What is Boxing Day? History and meaning

Boxing Day is Dec. 26, the day after Christmas, observed in Canada and other Commonwealth countries, and in 2026 it falls on a Saturday. The name comes from British traditions of giving to servants, tradespeople and the poor, though historians do not agree on exactly how it began.

The name has nothing to do with the sport of boxing, with packing up empty Christmas boxes or with returning unwanted gifts, historians and reference sources say.

One common explanation points to church alms boxes. Churches set out boxes to collect offerings for the poor, and the money was handed out the day after Christmas, which is also the Christian feast of St. Stephen, the first martyr, remembered for charity.

A second explanation centres on the “Christmas box,” a gift of money or goods given to servants and tradespeople. Servants who worked on Christmas Day were traditionally given the next day off to visit their own families, and employers gave them a box of gifts or money to take home. Tradespeople received theirs on the first working day after Christmas. National Geographic has a summary of why historians disagree on which account came first.

The day is known by other names. The Republic of Ireland calls Dec. 26 St. Stephen’s Day, while Northern Ireland observes Boxing Day. Canada took the British name through the Commonwealth, and for many Canadians today the day is mostly about family time and after-Christmas shopping.

Boxing Day is not a paid holiday everywhere in Canada. It is a statutory holiday for federally regulated workers and in Ontario, but most other provinces treat it as an ordinary working day. Because Dec. 26, 2026 is a Saturday, what that means for pay depends on the rules where you work. Our guide to Christmas and Boxing Day 2026 stat holidays by province has the full table and a worked example.

Store hours also vary by province and retailer. See what is open on Christmas Day 2026, and plan mail around Canada Post’s Christmas deadlines. Boxing Day is also a regular fixture of the Toronto shopping calendar, as in our report on Boxing Day shoppers in Toronto last year.

File photo: shoppers at the Eaton Centre in Toronto on Boxing Day, 2010. Photo: Raysonho, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

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Sources: National Geographic, Wikipedia, History.com.