Boxing Day is a public holiday observed in many Commonwealth countries on the first day other than Sunday following Christmas Day. It is often celebrated by giving gifts and donations to the poor and needy.  The origins of Boxing Day are not clear, but some think it could have come from a common practice for servants carrying boxes to their employers when arriving for work the day following Christmas.  In return, the employer would put coins in the boxes as a special gift. This might also be where the idea of Christmas bonuses originated.

Still others think it was named Boxing Day as it was traditional to open the church’s donation box on Christmas Day and distribute the monies to those less fortunate the following day.  It might also have been named Boxing Day for servants who had to work for their employers on Christmas Day and would instead open their gifts or boxes, the following day.

Boxing Day was also the day when the wren, the king of birds was captured and put in a box and introduced to each household in the village when he would be asked for a successful year and a good harvest. A holiday tradition exists today in England where boys go about town with a fake wren on a stick, asking each household for a donation to be placed in the box they carry so the wren will grant prosperity and good fortune on their home.

In Canada and indeed any other country that celebrates it, Boxing Day is also observed as a public holiday.  It is a day when stores sell their excess Christmas inventory at significantly reduced prices.  Most years Boxing Day happens to fall December 26th, which is the same day as the Feast of St. Stephen, commonly called St. Stephens Day.