Employee Engagement

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Feb 23, 2024

The History of Boxing Day & How to Live Its Legacy Today

by Jenn Goddu

Come December, as a Canadian living in the United States, I typically get asked numerous times: “What’s the deal with Boxing Day?” In the spirit of giving, let me share the history and some suggestions on how to bring the charitable mindset of old forward to contemporary professional life. Boxing Day, celebrated primarily in Commonwealth countries on December 26, began in Britain. It started with the best of intentions, then, perhaps unsurprisingly, it morphed over the centuries into a day for commercialism and sporting events. But, before we get to how it’s celebrated today in the likes of Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Britain, let’s go back to the Victorian era. History of Boxing Day explained There are several explanations for the name “Boxing Day.” One is that it refers to the poor in a community opening alms boxes placed in front of the churches the day after Christmas. Or that it refers to the boxes put out in churches to collect coins to support the community’s less fortunate. Another is that it refers to the practice of the well-to-do presenting boxes of leftovers to the servants and tradespeople who helped them host major Christmas shindigs the day before. In one of the earliest recorded references to boxed gifts, English Parliamentarian Samuel Pepys wrote in his 1663 diary that he sent a messenger to his shoemaker to deliver “something to the boys’ box against Christmas.” Further, Boxing Day was generally a day of rest for the employees who had to […]

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