Boxing Day

Komarkova Yana, Didorenko Natalia, Veliyev Ulvin

10B

• Boxing Day is on December 26, the day after Christmas. It is celebrated in Great Britain and in the most areas in England (the U.S. is the major exception), including Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.

• Despite its name Boxing Day has nothing to do with pugilistic competition.

• It is a day for people to return unwanted Christmas presents. The exact origins of the holiday are obscure and it is likely that Boxing Day began in England in the Middle Ages.

• Some historians say that the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but they took the following day off.

• Servants visited their families. Their employers presented them with gift boxes.

• Another theory is that the boxes were placed in churches and people deposited coins for the poor there. On December 26, the boxes were opened and the contents distributed out of them.

• Today Boxing Day gifts are expanded to be given those people who had rendered a service during the previous year.

• This tradition survives today because people give presents to tradesmen, mail carriers, doormen, porters and others who helped them.

• Boxing Day is just one of the British bank holidays. It’s recognized since 1871 and it’s observed by banks, government offices, and the post office.