Holiday Calendar

Boxing Day

Next celebratedSaturday, December 26, 2026

Ireland, South Africa and South Australia each give 26 December a different name in law, and the two Acts behind the English bank holiday never use the one everyone says.

Countdown to the day
--DAYS
--HRS
--MIN
--SEC
Last updated September 6, 2026 · by the Holiday Calendar TeamHave an update or spot an error?
YEARLY DATEDecember 26
OBSERVED INInternationally
CATEGORYFederal
ORIGIN

Historical Origin

FOUNDING ENTITY
Not documented
FIRST OBSERVED
Not documented
HOW THE HOLIDAY CAME TO BE

Three accounts of the box, none of them settled.

No founder, establishing act or naming rationale is documented for Boxing Day, and the three accounts of the box behind the name each carry partial documentary support without settling it. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest evidence for the name is Old Bailey testimony of 1743, and the day's legal standing came separately, from the Bank Holidays Act 1871 and the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971.

Read the 1971 bank holiday schedulevia legislation.gov.uk
INTRO

Nobody in 1743 needed the name explained

On 14 January 1743 a witness at the Old Bailey fixed the evening she saw a lame man knocked down. Sarah Buckle gave the holiday that had just passed, not a date, and no one in the trial record asks her what she meant.

Her answer is the earliest evidence the Oxford English Dictionary has for the name Boxing Day. The phrase enters the written record inside a robbery trial, unexplained, and already common enough to date a crime by.

The box itself is the unsettled part. Three accounts each carry documentary support, and none of the sources behind them settles the question: the Christmas box carried round by servants and tradespeople, the alms box opened in church for the poor, and the overlay of St Stephen's Day on the same date.

Advertisement

DEALS & OFFERS

2026 ran without a deal

No tracked offers this year. Here’s who has celebrated in past years.

No tracked deals for 2026

Boxing Day ran on December 26 without a tracked deal. Browse past offers from previous years.

1 brand has run a deal
Castlery
See past offers
ORIGINS

Boxing Day history

INTRODUCTION

English had a name for the box long before it had one for the day. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest evidence for Christmas box is 1558, in Speciall Grace after Banket at Yorke, and 185 years pass before the same dictionary finds Boxing Day.

The box was a physical object, and a breakable one. John Brand's Observations on Popular Antiquities quotes Mason's Handful of Essaies of 1621 on "an apprentice's box of earth, apt he is to take all, but to restore none till hee be broken."

CHAPTER 01

A custom people resented

Collecting the box was not always gentle. Brand calls the bestowing of Christmas boxes "one of those absurd customs of antiquity which ... had spread itself almost into a national grievance", and quotes The Connoisseur complaining that "the gift is now almost demanded as a right."

The trade did the collecting. In Brand's account the butcher and the baker sent "their journeymen and apprentices to levy contributions on their customers."

CHAPTER 02

Two boxes, and no verdict

A rival account puts the box in a church. E. Cobham Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable gives Boxing Day nothing but a cross-reference, and files the explanation under Christmas Box: alms boxes "opened on Christmas Day", their contents "distributed next day by the priests."

Brewer cites nothing for it. A third reading points instead at St Stephen's Day, which shares the date, and none of the three accounts carries a source that settles it.

CHAPTER 03

Parliament arrives and declines the name

The law came late. The Bank Holidays Act 1871 received royal assent on 25 May, and its preamble undertakes to make "the day after Christmas Day" a bank holiday. Its schedule for England and Ireland lists "The twenty-sixth day of December, if a week day."

The Act in force says no more. Schedule 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971 gives England and Wales "26th December, if it be not a Sunday", and no name at all. The words everyone actually uses have never been the words in either Act.

TIMELINE

Timeline

Christmas box enters the record

The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest evidence for Christmas box appears in Speciall Grace after Banket at Yorke.

An apprentice's box of earth

Mason's Handful of Essaies likens a miser to an apprentice's box of earth, which restores nothing until it is broken.

A witness dates a robbery

At the Old Bailey on 14 January, Sarah Buckle fixes a highway robbery by the holiday that had just passed.

The Bank Holidays Act arrives

Royal assent on 25 May makes the day after Christmas Day a bank holiday in England and Ireland, if a week day.

The Act in force replaces it

Schedule 1 of the Banking and Financial Dealings Act keeps 26 December for England and Wales, still without a name.
It was the Day after Boxing Day
Sarah BuckleWitness at the Old Bailey, 14 January 1743

GOOD TO KNOW

Boxing Day Around the World

Ireland

the Organisation of Working Time Act 1997 lists St Stephen's Day second among public holidays and gives it no calendar date, and an employer may swap it for 6 January on 14 days' notice

South Africa

Schedule 1 of the Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994 ends with Day of Goodwill 26 December, and a public holiday falling on a Sunday makes the following Monday one too

New Zealand

the Holidays Act 2003 names Boxing Day ahead of New Year's Day, and moves it only where the day would not otherwise be a working day for that employee

Canada

the Canada Labour Code lists Boxing Day among its general holidays, reaching federally regulated workplaces rather than every Canadian worker

New South Wales

the Public Holidays Act 2010 keeps the familiar wording, Boxing Day, a public holiday on 26 December

South Australia

the Public Holidays Act 2023 calls the same date the Proclamation Day holiday, and the word Boxing appears nowhere in it

GOOD TO KNOW

Surprising facts about Boxing Day

A fourth origin story, now forgotten

Brand relays the Athenian Oracle's account that the money came from a box kept aboard ship under a saint's protection, paid into by the poor and "not opened till the ship's return."

Scotland's 26 December is not a standing entry

The 1971 schedule gives Scotland the date only when Christmas Day falls on a Sunday, so in every other year the King appoints it: a proclamation of 11 June 2025 made Friday, 26 December 2025 a bank holiday in Scotland.

To one antiquary, 26 December meant horses

Brand's chapter on St Stephen's Day is about galloping horses until they sweat and then bleeding them, and quotes the 1517 accounts of the Canons of St Mary in Huntingdon: "Item, for letting our Horses blede in Chrystmasse Weke iiijd."

Christmas Day is not on the England and Wales list

Schedule 1 carries 26 December for England and Wales but neither Christmas Day nor Good Friday. Section 1(4) treats those two separately, as the days a bank holiday's obligations are measured against.

Boxing Night has a dictionary entry of its own

The index around the Oxford English Dictionary's entry carries Boxing Night as a headword dated 1787, and boxing time dated 1831.

WHY THIS DAY MATTERS

Why Boxing Day Matters

LANGUAGE

The day outlived the box it is named after.

On the Oxford English Dictionary's own frequency series, Christmas box peaked near 0.081 occurrences per million words in the 1890s and had fallen to about 0.028 by 2010. Boxing Day went the other way, from 0.0008 in the 1790s to about 0.16.

PROCLAMATION

The King still has to appoint the day

Schedule 1 provides a substitute only when 26 December falls on a Sunday, so a Saturday leaves the statute silent. For 2026 the King filled the gap for England, Wales and Northern Ireland by proclamation, reciting that a Saturday bank holiday would be inexpedient and appointing Monday 28 December in its place.

EVIDENCE

The early record sits in court transcripts

John Brand's two volumes of Observations on Popular Antiquities, revised in 1813 to collect exactly this sort of custom, never print the phrase Boxing Day. Witnesses at the Old Bailey had been using it in sworn evidence for decades.

GET INVOLVED

How to Observe Boxing Day

EDITOR'S PICK

Read the oldest known use of the name

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey publish the January 1743 trial in full, witness by witness. Sarah Buckle's line sits in the middle of a highway robbery case, in the court's own record.

PLAN

Plan around the substitute day

In the United Kingdom the day off moves when 26 December falls at the weekend, and the replacement is announced well ahead. GOV.UK sets out the dates for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland side by side, so check them before booking anything.

SETTLE

Settle the boxing question with a dictionary

Two separate headwords are spelled boxing, and only one of them is a blow with the fist. Look up boxing n.1, the container sense, and the sport drops out of the question.

FOLLOW

Follow the box back to the antiquarians

John Brand gathers the Christmas box material into a single chapter, quotation by quotation. The 1813 edition is scanned in full, with a separate chapter on St Stephen's Day.

ASK

Ask what the day is called elsewhere

The statutes of Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand and South Australia give 26 December four different names between them. Ask someone in Ireland, South Africa or South Australia which one turns up on their calendar.

Test your knowledge

How well do you know Boxing Day?

1 / 8

In which year does the Oxford English Dictionary place its earliest evidence for the name Boxing Day?

Answer

Yes, and by statute rather than by custom. It is a public or bank holiday in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, New Zealand, the Australian states of New South Wales and South Australia, and in Canada's federally regulated workplaces.

COLOPHON

Sources

How we know what’s on this page. References, not endorsements.

18sources
16primary records
13independently dated
Primary records
Old Bailey Proceedings Onlineversion 9.0
Trial of Richard Stroud, Henry Stroud, Edward Taylor (t17430114-29), January 1743
A highway robbery trial in which a witness dates the crime by Boxing Day.
View source
Oxford English Dictionary
Boxing Day, n.
The dictionary's dating of the name to 1743, with a frequency series by decade.
View source
Oxford English Dictionary
Christmas box, n.
First recorded use in 1558, four senses, and a frequency series peaking in the 1890s.
View source
Oxford English Dictionary
boxing, n.1
The container homograph, derived from box n.2, and the etymon of Boxing Day.
View source
Oxford English Dictionary
boxing, n.2
The separate 1594 headword for a blow with the fist, derived from box v.1.
View source
The National Archives, legislation.gov.uk25 May 1871
Bank Holidays Act 1871 (34 and 35 Vict. c. 17), King's Printer scan
The full original text, including the preamble and the schedules for England, Ireland and Scotland.
View source
The National Archives, legislation.gov.ukrevised text, current
Banking and Financial Dealings Act 1971, Schedule 1
The three bank holiday lists, the Sunday substitution rules, and the Scottish list that carries 26 December only as the substitute when Christmas Day is a Sunday.
View source
The Gazette2025
Proclamation appointing 28 December 2026 in place of 26 December 2026 in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
The proclamation calling a Saturday bank holiday inexpedient and naming the Monday instead.
View source
The Gazette2025
Proclamation appointing 26 December 2025 a bank holiday in Scotland
Scotland's Boxing Day appointed for a single year under section 1(3) of the 1971 Act.
View source
GOV.UKcontinuously updated
UK bank holidays
The published dates for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, substitute days included.
View source
Irish Statute Book1997, as enacted
Organisation of Working Time Act, 1997, Second Schedule
Ireland's list of public holidays, naming St Stephen's Day and allowing a swap for 6 January.
View source
South African Government1994
Public Holidays Act 36 of 1994
The calendar of public holidays ending with Day of Goodwill 26 December, and the Sunday rule.
View source
New Zealand Parliamentary Counsel Officeversion as at 20 December 2023
Holidays Act 2003, sections 44 and 45
Boxing Day named in statute, and a transfer rule that turns on the individual employee.
View source
Justice Laws Website2026-08-20
Canada Labour Code, section 166
The definition of general holiday, which names Boxing Day for federally regulated workplaces.
View source
NSW Legislationcurrent version from 13 January 2023
Public Holidays Act 2010 No 115, section 4
New South Wales keeps Boxing Day as a public holiday on 26 December.
View source
South Australian Legislationversion 28.3.2024
Public Holidays Act 2023, section 4
The South Australian list ending 26 December, the Proclamation Day holiday.
View source
Additional coverage
Internet Archive1813
John Brand, Observations on Popular Antiquities, revised by Henry Ellis, vol. I
An 1813 chapter on the Christmas Box, and a separate chapter on St Stephen's Day and horses.
View source
Internet Archive
E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable
A Boxing Day entry that is only a cross-reference, and a Christmas Box entry citing nothing.
View source
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE

Related holidays

SAT
26
Dec 2026
Day of Goodwill
Awareness

Day of Goodwill

Spread kindness and goodwill on the Day of Goodwill - join us in making a positive impact in our communities and spreading love to those who need it most.

57Read
FRI
27
Nov 2026
Black Friday
Fun

Black Friday

Score unbeatable deals and mega discounts on Black Friday - your one-stop shop for holiday savings!

26Read
FRI
25
Dec 2026
Christmas
Federal

Christmas

Christmas takes a different legal shape in every country that writes it down. Britain schedules it only for Scotland, a French employer may lawfully open on it, and Japan's holiday statute leaves December empty.

496Read
FOR MARKETERS & CREATORS

Turn every day into a moment your audience actually shows up for.

8.4M
Monthly readers
5K+
Holidays tracked
Holiday Calendar for Brands Developer API