Gifts on Boxing Day

Press, 26 December 1984, Page 12

Gifts on Boxing Day

Boxing Day used to be the time to give gifts to people who provided everyday services such as postmen and milkmen. Nowadays people who want to give gifts to tradesmen who serve them during the year generally do this in the week before Christmas. But when the custom started in England many years ago, the people who expected such gifts or “boxes,” turned up on the day after Christmas. This custom is thought to be one reason why the day after Christmas is known as Boxing Day. ; Another tradition which goes back further than the gift-giving to tradesmen could also have some bearing on the unusual name of Boxing Day.

This involved placing alms boxes around churches during the Christmas period. People put money into the boxes for the poor. The alms boxes were opened on Christmas Day and the money collected was given to the poor of the parish the next day. This custom was called the “dole of the Christmas box,” or the “box money.” There is yet another story which claims the origin of the name Boxing Day.

Apprentices and servants used to ask their masters and customers of their masters for small amounts of money over the Christmas period. They collected this money in small earthenware boxes which, unlike modern piggy banks, did not have a removable stopper. The boxes had to be broken open to get at the

money, so the owners did this at the time when they were most likely to be at their fullest — on the day after Christmas. In the Christian calendar, Boxing Day on December 26 is the feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. He helped organise the early Christian church and was known for his work with the poor.