50 Fun Facts About Boxing Day

How does the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 define the UK's Boxing Day bank holiday?

The Act never uses the name Boxing Day at all.

Boxing Day originated in which country?

It spread from Britain to many Commonwealth nations.

Boxing Day was traditionally a day for doing what?

The custom of tipping tradesmen with a 'Christmas box' was already recorded in Samuel Pepys's diary in 1663.

One theory traces the name to a church box opened the day after Christmas. What kind of box?

Alms boxes tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen were opened and the money distributed to the poor.

Which diarist mentioned tradesmen collecting 'Christmas boxes' in an entry for 19 December 1663?

Servants who worked Christmas Day were sent home the next day with a box of gifts, bonuses and leftovers.

The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest attestation of 'Boxing Day' dates from which year?

It defines it as 'the day after Christmas day' when employees received Christmas boxes.

Boxing Day became a bank holiday in England, Wales and Ireland under an Act of which year?

The Bank Holidays Act was introduced by John Lubbock; the new days were nicknamed 'St Lubbock's Days'.

Boxing Day usually falls on the feast day of which figure, the first Christian martyr?

Stephen was the first Christian martyr, stoned to death around AD 34.

The martyr whose feast is kept on the day after Christmas held what office in the early Jerusalem church?

Acts describes him as one of seven Greek-speaking deacons chosen to distribute food; Saul of Tarsus witnessed his stoning.

In parts of Ireland and the Isle of Man, the day after Christmas is named for which traditionally hunted bird?

'Wrenboys' in straw masks paraded the bird on a decorated pole and collected money.

In most of Ulster the day is called Boxing Day. What is it called across most of the rest of Ireland?

It is one of ten official public holidays in the Republic and a traditional day for pantomimes and fox hunts.

The carol 'Good King Wenceslas' is set on the feast day after Christmas. What is the king doing?

His page follows in the king's footprints through the snow; the lyrics were written by John Mason Neale in 1853.

The melody of 'Good King Wenceslas' was borrowed from a 13th-century carol about which season?

'Tempus adest floridum' was found in a 1582 Finnish song collection, Piae Cantiones.

Which Australian state does NOT observe Boxing Day, celebrating Proclamation Day instead?

Proclamation Day marks the 1836 founding of the province beside the Old Gum Tree at Glenelg.

South Africa renamed Boxing Day in 1994. What name did it give 26 December?

The idea was that the spirit of Christmas should continue into the next day.

Which US state officially declared 26 December Boxing Day in 1996, though not a holiday?

Governor William Weld acted at the urging of British expatriates; the day is otherwise little marked in the US.

What is Boxing Day called in French-speaking Canada?

It is a federal statutory holiday for federally regulated workplaces and a statutory holiday in Ontario.

Boxing Day survived the 1997 handover and became a statutory holiday in 2024 in which territory?

Singapore, by contrast, has dropped it as a public holiday.

On the island of Bermuda, which costumed dancers traditionally perform all over the island on Boxing Day?

The tradition is thought to date to the 18th century, when enslaved people were allowed to gather at Christmas.

Junkanoo, the masquerade parade held around Boxing Day, is most associated with which countries?

It originated during slavery in British American colonies and is now also staged in Belize.

In Britain, football fixtures on Boxing Day were originally arranged against which kind of opponent?

The idea was that teams and fans would not have to travel far the day after Christmas.

Australia's Boxing Day cricket Test is played in which city?

The tradition dates from the 1974-75 Ashes and was formalised by the Australian Cricket Board in 1980.

The Boxing Day Test's player-of-the-match medal is named after which Indigenous cricketer?

Mullagh starred on the 1868 Aboriginal tour of England.

Which famous Australian yacht race starts on Boxing Day and crosses Bass Strait?

The roughly 630-nautical-mile race across Bass Strait first ran in 1945.

The Boxing Day yacht race of which year ended in tragedy, with five boats sunk and six sailors dead?

Only 44 of 115 starters reached Hobart; crew age and experience rules were tightened afterwards.

Britain's most prestigious Boxing Day horse race, the King George VI Chase, is run at which course?

It was first run in February 1937 and moved to Boxing Day when racing resumed after the war in 1947.

Which horse won the King George VI Chase a record five times?

Desert Orchid won it four times.

Which 2004 law banned chasing foxes with dogs in England and Wales?

It came into force on 18 February 2005; hunts still meet on Boxing Day, many following artificial trails.

Which under-20 ice hockey tournament traditionally opens on Boxing Day and runs into early January?

It has an outsized following in Canada, dating from the era when it was a rare chance to face Soviet Bloc players.

The Spengler Cup, which starts on Boxing Day, is played in which Swiss town?

First held in 1923, it is often cited as the world's oldest invitational hockey tournament.

In Commonwealth nations like Ghana and Uganda, which sport is literally staged on 26 December?

The practice has also been followed for decades in Guyana and Italy.

Boxing Day sales are often compared to which American shopping event?

Canadian retailers began copying Black Friday in the late 2000s to stop shoppers crossing the border.

Roughly how many UK shoppers were estimated to have hit the Boxing Day sales in 2009?

A looming VAT rise back to 17.5% in January helped inflate the figure by almost 20%.

Which Canadian city, the largest to ban most Boxing Day shopping, repealed its store-hours bylaw in December 2014?

Parts of Atlantic Canada and Northern Ontario still keep stores shut, moving sales to the 27th.

Retailers who stretch the sales over several days market the period as what?

The sales often run right up to New Year's Eve.

The 'Boxing Day tsunami' of 2004 was triggered by an earthquake off the coast of which island?

The magnitude 9.2-9.3 quake killed an estimated 227,898 people in 14 countries.

Roughly how many people died in the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami?

It remains the deadliest tsunami in history, with waves up to 30 metres high.

In the UK, when 26 December is a Sunday, the Boxing Day bank holiday moves to which day?

The Monday becomes the substitute holiday for Christmas Day itself.

Boxing Day has been an additional bank holiday in Scotland only since which year?

The 1871 Act had given Scotland a different set of holidays, including New Year's Day.

What is the traditional Boxing Day meal in Britain?

The point is not to cook: yesterday's turkey becomes today's curry.

Which festive dish of leftovers is eaten in Catalonia on Sant Esteve, the day after Christmas?

The pasta tubes are stuffed with meat left over from the Christmas escudella, turkey or capon.

In Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and Czechia, the 26 December holiday's name translates as what?

Germans call it Zweiter Weihnachtsfeiertag and the Dutch Tweede kerstdag.

Many retailers open at roughly what time on the morning of the Boxing Day sales?

Doorbuster deals and loss leaders draw queues hours before opening, especially at big-box electronics stores.

What do New Zealand employees who must work on Boxing Day receive?

Boxing Day is a statutory holiday there, as it is in Trinidad and Tobago and, since 2024, Hong Kong.

By what alternative name is Boxing Day also known?

The name reflects its origins as a day for donating gifts to those in need, long before it became a shopping holiday.

In which year did the Australian Cricket Board formalise the Boxing Day Test at the MCG?

Tests had occasionally been played there around Boxing Day before, but only then did the fixture become a fixed tradition.

Which country dropped Boxing Day from its list of public holidays?

It had once been a holiday for workers and students, with a Monday off whenever it fell on a weekend.

Which country added Boxing Day to its 2023 'joint holiday', or cuti bersama, list?

It is not a full public holiday there, unlike in fellow Commonwealth-influenced neighbours.

The medieval church donation box, a possible source of the name, sat in which part of the building?

The custom may go back to late Roman and early Christian offerings tied to the Feast of Saint Stephen.

Which US governor declared 26 December Boxing Day in 1996 at the urging of British expatriates?

The coalition wanted to 'transport the English tradition to the United States', though it is not an employee holiday.