{"id":8292,"date":"2021-12-26T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-26T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.historyextra.com\/?p=12892"},"modified":"2021-12-26T06:31:10","modified_gmt":"2021-12-26T05:31:10","slug":"a-brief-history-of-boxing-day","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbchistory\/rss_feed\/a-brief-history-of-boxing-day\/","title":{"rendered":"A brief history of Boxing Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Emma Mason\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Sunday, 26 December 2021 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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What is Boxing Day?<\/h3>\n
Boxing Day is also known as St Stephen\u2019s Day \u2013 Stephen was the first Christian martyr, stoned to death in c34 AD.<\/p>\n
Being a saint\u2019s day, it has charitable associations. Charitable boxes \u2013 collections of money \u2013 would have been given out at the church door to the needy.<\/p>\n
While the wider significance of St Stephen\u2019s Day collapsed in Europe, it held on in Protestant England. \u201cIt is an Anglo-Saxon thing,\u201d says Connelly. \u201cAs England made more and more of Christmas<\/a>, it began to concentrate its rituals onto just a few days. This was happening by the 18th century.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe English came to believe that they owned Christmas \u2013 perhaps in partnership with other \u2018Teutonic\/Nordic\u2019 peoples. This was a bit of an over-exaggeration as, of course, there are plenty of southern European Christmas traditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Church of England had gotten rid of so many days. The charitable efforts that, under the Catholic calendar, would have been scattered, became tied to the one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more |How to host a medieval Christmas<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
By the late 18th century or early 19th century, Boxing Day became a day of outdoor activity.<\/p>\n
While Christmas Day was about being at home with your family, Boxing Day was a time to get outside, to get away from the home. \u201cPeople can only be cooped up for so long!\u201d says Connelly. \u201cThere\u2019s always been a need to exorcise \u2013 and exercise \u2013 all of that.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the 18th century, Boxing Day became a day for aristocratic sports \u2013 hunting, horseracing, and shooting. By the 19th century, as a result of urbanisation, it was about professional football<\/a>.<\/p>\n
As British society, particularly English society, became marked by large industrial cities, distinctive working-class leisure pursuits evolved. With Boxing Day already associated with pleasurable, outdoor activities, it was soon adopted as a key date in the professional soccer calendar.<\/p>\n
When did the charitable side of Boxing Day end?<\/h3>\n
By the early 19th century, charitable aims became more focused around Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, \u201cbut it was a very slow petering out,\u201d says Connelly. \u201cThere was a debate about whether inmates should get beer and beef on Christmas Day, for example. Whether they got this depended upon the attitude of local guardians.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd by this point, there were enough poor people to be thought of as an entity. Provision for the poor turned into a local government issue, as opposed to something individuals organised.\u201d<\/p>\n
Read more | Charles Dickens, champion of the poor<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>
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Historically, has Boxing Day been celebrated differently in other parts of the world?<\/h3>\nEngland, Wales, Australia and New Zealand are distinctive in making quite a \u2018thing\u2019 of Boxing Day, with outdoor events such as picnics, horse shows, rides and walks, says Connelly.<\/p>\n

Historically, has Boxing Day been celebrated differently in other parts of the world?<\/h3>\n
England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand are distinctive in making quite a \u2018thing\u2019 of Boxing Day, with outdoor events such as picnics, horse shows, rides and walks, says Connelly.<\/p>\n