Dec. 26 is a holiday for millions outside the US. What is Boxing Day?

Dec. 26 is a public holiday across much of the English-speaking world, though it remains unfamiliar to many Americans. Known as Boxing Day, it carries a history rooted less in commerce than in custom, charity, and the social order of earlier centuries.

Boxing Day is observed primarily in the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and several Caribbean nations. It also appears on the calendars of parts of Europe and former British territories. The holiday falls on December 26, the day after Christmas, and when that date lands on a weekend, observance is typically shifted to the following weekday.

The name does not refer to the sport. Its origins are widely traced to Britain in the 17th and 18th centuries, when households of means would present “Christmas boxes” to servants, tradespeople, and the working poor. These boxes often contained money, food, or goods and were given on the first weekday after Christmas, when servants—who traditionally worked on Christmas Day—were free to visit their own families.

Another explanation points to churches, which placed alms boxes out during the Advent season. Those boxes were opened on December 26, the Feast of St. Stephen, a Christian martyr traditionally associated with charity. Over time, the practice and the name converged, and Boxing Day became a recognized part of the holiday calendar.

In modern practice, Boxing Day has taken on a different character depending on the country. In the United Kingdom and Canada, it is a statutory holiday marked by business closures, family gatherings, sporting events, and, increasingly, large retail sales. In Australia and New Zealand, it is closely associated with major cricket matches and outdoor recreation, reflecting the summer season in the Southern Hemisphere.

Retail has come to dominate public attention around Boxing Day in recent decades. Major sales events, similar in scale to Black Friday in the United States, draw large crowds and significant economic activity. Critics argue this shift has diluted the holiday’s charitable origins. Supporters counter that the day has always evolved with social and economic change, adapting to the needs and habits of the time.

Despite commercialization, Boxing Day remains distinct from Christmas itself. It is less ceremonial and more practical. Where Christmas Day emphasizes tradition, faith, and family ritual, Boxing Day has historically been about redistribution, rest, and civic pause. It serves as a moment when the formalities of Christmas ease and the transition toward the new year begins.

In the United States, Boxing Day has never taken hold as a public holiday. American Christmas customs developed along different lines, and the country’s break between Christmas and New Year is shaped more by informal vacation time than by inherited civic observance. As a result, December 26 is a regular workday for most Americans, even as much of the world treats it as a continuation of the holiday season.

Still, as global commerce and media continue to blur national boundaries, Boxing Day has become more visible to Americans—if not more familiar. For much of the world, it remains a reminder of how traditions endure: not unchanged, but anchored in history, adapted by circumstance, and carried forward by custom rather than decree.