Boxing Day

Actually, it's not...you know what, fine

For most people around the world, 26th December is just another day; a post Christmas hangover both metaphorically and literally. For the British, it's Boxing Day, one of the most underrated and under appreciated holidays of the year. Bu why should we even bother with Boxing Day at all?




1) Recovery

The first advantage of Boxing Day is a practical one: it serves as an excellent buffer to depressurise from the excesses of Christmas Day, and guarantees an absolutely necessary period of recupperation. If you've consumed several pounds of poultry and enough brandy to take down a horse on the 25th, it seems absoutely unthinkable that you should be back at work on the 26th. Boxing Day allows you to wind down from these excesses gradually, instead of [PUN KLAXON] going cold turkey.

2) It's basically Christmas II: Christmas Strikes Back

Boxing Day is the only holiday I know of that exists purely as a spillover from another, far more popular holiday. It's as though it was orbiting around in December until it got caught in the gravity of Christmas Day, where it became firmly locked for posterity. This is by no means a disadvantage, as it serves as an opportunity to re-run Christmas Day without the unwanted stress. For one thing, you don't have to worry about cooking another big Christmas dinner as you've got enough leftover turkey in the fridge to feed your family until February. Instead of scrambling around the house trying to find a gravy boat/working AA batteries/a relative who got lost on the way to the bathroom, you've simply got a full, uninterrupted day of relaxation and enjoying your new gifts; reading books at a leisurely pace, wearing some ill-advised snazzy new socks, or swearing forcefully under your breath as you are bested in a battle of wits with a shiny new Japanese gizmo.

3) It's adorably quaint

One of the things which makes Boxing Day so great is the fact that it's so peculiar. Mention it to those from outside the UK, and you'll probably just be met with a blank, quizical stare. If pushed to take a guess, most people would probably assume you're referring to the date of the next Floyd Mayweather fight. I'd go so far as to say that the relative obscurity of Boxing Day marks it as a peculiarly British institution. It is a testament to our inexplicable love of mildly eccentric traditions; the character of John Bull, the concept of meal breaks in cricket, and the mystifyingly continuous popularity of Boris Johnson.

4) Nobody really knows why it exists

Indeed, Boxing Day is so delightfully backwards that we can't even agree on why exactly we observe it. How many other holidays can you say that of? Even if your knowledge isn't the most exhaustive, you can probably at least say why we celebrate most major holidays; May Day is International Labour Day, the 4th July celebrates US independence, Easter is about an anthropomorphic rabbit hiding chocolate eggs, etc. etc. But if you type 'Boxing Day' into Google, this is what you're met with:

Which I think is actually rather wonderful thing. Officially, 26th December is St. Stephen's Day. The poor sod must feel rather overlooked though, as apart from a day off after Jesus' birthday he seems to be rather an after-thought.

One of the most common theories as to the origins of the term is that the well-to-do would give their servants boxes of swag on the 26th December as a sort of year-end bonus. They wouldn't receive these on Christmas Day of course, as they'd still be expected to serve their masters. How benevolent!

"Here you go children, a box of our old tat. Aren't you glad you live in penniless servitude?"

As far as I knew growing up, the holiday was called Boxing Day as churches would collect donations  throughout the year in big wooden boxes, which would then be broken open on the day after Christmas for distribution amongst the various needy peasants/lepers/plague victims. To be fair, my familiarity with this version of the story comes from the childrens' book series Horrible Histories, so I'm willing to accept that this might not be the gospel truth on the matter.

Regardless, the mysterious origins of Boxing Day don't detract from the fact the it is remains one of the best and most underrated holidays of the British calendar.