A rundown on Boxing Day

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Christmas Day is a big event on the calendar each year. Indeed, Dec. 25 is a day when family, faith and festivities converge for billions of people across the globe.

The festive atmosphere of Christmas Day might leave many people a little tired come Dec. 26, but Canadians know the party isn’t over upon going to bed on Christmas night. That’s because Boxing Day is celebrated in Canada and elsewhere, including the U.K., on Dec. 26.

What is Boxing Day?

Christmas Day has long been a day to gather with friends and family, but that wasn’t necessarily possible for everyone. The working class and servants working in wealthy households in the U.K. and other locales in the British Commonwealth typically worked on Christmas Day. But the day after Christmas was customarily a day off from work for such individuals. According to Britannica, it was customary for the upper classes in Great Britain and the Commonwealth countries to present the poor and working classes with presents on the day after Christmas, which came to be known as Boxing Day.

Is Boxing Day an official holiday?

Boxing Day is a popular holiday, but it’s not a given that workers will have the day off. According to StatutoryHolidays.com, Boxing Day is a statutory holiday only in Ontario. It’s also a statutory holiday for federally regulated workers and banks across Canada. Various provinces recognize Boxing Day as a public holiday, and workers living in those areas tend to get the day off, even if it’s not technically mandatory for employers to close for the day.

Is Boxing Day still celebrated in the same way it used to be?

Few twenty-first century households have servants, so the Boxing Day of modern times is not all that similar to the holiday celebrated in the past. However, Boxing Day remains a festive day on the calendar. Many people take advantage of retailers’ sales and go shopping on Boxing Day, while countless others spend the day watching various sporting events. The Premier League, which is the highest level of the English football league system and among the most competitive leagues across the globe, typically schedules a full slate of matches on Boxing Day. However, that tradition is not necessarily a given in 2025, as the league announced it would move the games to Dec. 27 while leaving room for teams to move fixtures to Boxing Day to accommodate broadcasting demands.

Fans may need to be patient and wait and see if they can spend Boxing Day with the Premier League. If there’s no Premier League, Canadian sports fans can still spend the day watching the World Juniors Ice Hockey Championship, which begins its roughly month-long run on Boxing Day.