When: December 26th. However, some people will celebrate it on the first weekday after Christmas. If Christmas falls on a Friday or a Saturday, Boxing Day is the following Monday.
Boxing Day is celebrated in England, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and other former British commonwealth countries. It is a legal holiday in these countries. This is also St. Stephans Day, where Boxing Day gets some of it's roots. On St. Stephans' Day, churches opened their collection boxes to the poor.
Boxing Day was an expression of appreciation and thanks, much like Christmas tips are today.
The roots of the holiday goes back to the Middle Ages. On this day, members of the merchant class would take boxes, fill them with food and fruits, and give them to servants, tradespeople and the less fortunate. In the case of servants, they would work on Christmas Day, so it was only fitting that immediately after Christmas, they would be given a day off to celebrate.
Usually celebrated the day after Christmas, some would celebrate the following Monday when Christmas fell on a Friday or Saturday.
Today, the giving of boxes includes filling boxes with food and clothing for the needy and performing volunteer work. Monetary gifts to charity are also common.
Annie's Boxing Day Page
This Day in History December 26th
American Revolutionary War: In the Battle of Trenton, the Continental Army attacks and successfully defeats a garrison of Hessian mercenaries. (1776)
Four thousand people attend George Washington's funeral where Henry Lee III declares him as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen." (1799)
A theater fire in Richmond, Virginia kills the Governor of Virginia George William Smith and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia Abraham B. Venable. (1811)
Trapped in snow in the Sierra Nevadas and without food, members of the Donner Party resort to cannibalism. (1846)
American Civil War: The Trent Affair: Confederate diplomatic envoys James M. Mason and John Slidell are freed by the United States government, thus heading off a possible war between the United States and United Kingdom. (1861)
American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou begins. (1862)
Four nuns serving as volunteer nurses on board USS Red Rover are the first female nurses on a U.S. Navy hospital ship. (1862)
The largest mass-hanging in U.S. history took place in Mankato, Minnesota, 38 Native Americans die. (1862)
Gilbert and Sullivan collaborate for the first time, on their lost opera, Thespis. It does modestly well, but the two would not collaborate again for four years. (1871)
Marie and Pierre Curie announce the isolation of radium. (1898)
A relief crew arrives at the lighthouse on the Flannan Isles of Scotland, UK, only to find the previous crew has disappeared without a trace. (1900)
Babe Ruth of the Boston Red Sox is sold to the New York Yankees by owner Harry Frazee. (1919)
U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States. (1941)
World War II: German warship Scharnhorst is sunk off of Norway's North Cape after a battle against major Royal Navy forces. (1943)
World War II: George S. Patton's Third Army breaks the encirclement of surrounded U.S. forces at Bastogne, Belgium. (1944)
The Beatles' "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" are released in the United States, marking the beginning of Beatlemania on an international level. (1963)
The first Kwanzaa is celebrated by Maulana Karenga, the chair of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach. (1966)
Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history. (1972)
Time's Man of the Year is for the first time a non-human, the personal computer. (1982)
The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union. (1991)
Four Armed Islamic Group hijackers seize control of Air France Flight 8969. When the plane lands at Marseille, a French Gendarmerie assault team boards the aircraft and kills the hijackers. (1994)
Six-year-old beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey is found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colorado. (1996)
The Soufrière Hills volcano on the island of Montserrat explodes, creating a small tsunami offshore. (1997)
Iraq announces its intention to fire upon U.S. and British warplanes that patrol the northern and southern no-fly zones. (1998)
A 9.3 magnitude earthquake creates a tsunami causing devastation in Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, the Maldives and many other areas around the rim of the Indian Ocean, killing over 230,000. (2004)