The December 26th it is the anniversary of Saint Stephen, contemporary of Jesus and first martyr of the Christian religion. According to the Acts of the Apostles, Stephen was condemned to death for blasphemy by the Jewish Sanhedrin and executed by stoning. The discovery of his remains, which occurred in 415, consolidated his cult throughout the Christian world, but the Church, while recognizing the anniversary of December 26th, does not consider it a “holiday of obligation” and does not require the faithful to listen to the mass. However in many countries Boxing Day is a public holidayestablished with the aim of extending the Christmas break.
What is the story of Boxing Day?
Stephen was one of the first disciples of Jesus and was the first martyr (literally “witness”, understood as a man killed because of his faith) of Christianity. For this reason it is known as “protomartyr” and is venerated by all Christian confessions that allow the cult of saints. The Acts of the Apostles says that in the year 36 it was denounced as blasphemous by the Sanhedrinhighest political-religious authority of Jewish Jerusalem. In Palestine at that time there was a sort of power vacuum, because Pontius Pilate, who represented the Roman authority, had been ousted from his functions and the territory was temporarily governed by the Sanhedrin.
According to the Acts, Stephen did not deny the Christian religion but, on the contrary, reaffirmed his profession of faith. The Sanhedrin therefore decided to stone him, that is, kill him by hitting him with stones. Stephen thus became a martyr.
Because Boxing Day is celebrated on December 26th
The cult of Stephen spread immediately after the death of the protomartyr and was consolidated after 415, when a priest, a certain Lucian, found his body, real or presumed, in Jerusalem.
The Church celebrates Stephen on two different dates: the August 3considered the day of the discovery of the body, and the December 26th. The choice of this last date is mainly due to the proximity to Christmas. The early Church wanted Jesus to be companions celebrated on days close to the anniversary of his birth. Since Stephen was the first martyr of Christianity, it was chosen to celebrate him on December 26, immediately after Christmas. In the following days, other saints are celebrated who, according to Christian tradition, were close to Jesus, such as John the Evangelist (27 December), the Holy Innocents, i.e. the children killed by Herod (28 December) after the birth of Jesus, and , in the past, Peter and Paul (the celebration was then moved to June). According to another tradition, the date was chosen because Stephen’s relics (i.e. the remains of his body, considered miraculous) were carried in procession on 26 December 415, shortly after the discovery, in the church of Hagia Sion.
The feast of Boxing Day
For the Church, Boxing Day is an important anniversary, but it is not a celebration of obligationthat is, a day on which all the faithful are required to attend mass. The day, however, is considered public holiday by civil authorities in various countriesincluding, in addition to Italy, Austria, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Romania, Switzerland, Hungary, Ukraine and others.
The holiday was introduced for extend the Christmas holiday. In Italy, for example, December 26th was a working day, but in 1947 the government established that the days following Christmas and Easter (Easter Monday, better known as Easter Monday) were public holidays, in order to offer citizens an extra day of rest. The feast of Saint Stephen, moreover, is closely linked to Christmas and the traditions linked to it are confused with the Christmas ones.
Among other countries, the anniversary is particularly felt in Irelandwhere it is known, in Gaelic, as Lá Fhéile Stiofáin or Lá an Dreoilínwhich literally means “day of the wren” (a bird) and is associated with ancient legends. Tradition dictates that you go around dressed in old clothes and carrying a wren with you (in recent times it is customary to carry a fake one, but previously real killed birds were used). The tradition, however, is less popular today than in the past.
In Eastern Orthodox churchesBoxing Day falls on December 27th. Since the Orthodox Church still adopts the Julian calendar, which is thirteen days ahead of the Gregorian calendar, the holiday is celebrated on January 9th (equivalent to December 27th of the Gregorian calendar). Generally in Orthodox countries the anniversary of Boxing Day is not a public holiday, with the exception of Serbiacountry of which the saint is considered the patron saint.
The boxing day in the Anglo-Saxon world
In many Anglo-Saxon countries (the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and many other former English colonies, but not the United States), December 26 is known as boxing day, literally “box day”. The name derives from the fact that in the past there was the custom of giving boxes containing gifts to the poor. Today, however, boxing day is above all the day on which winter sales begin and the shops are stormed by citizens. However, if December 26th falls on a Saturday or Sunday, Boxing Day moves to the 27th or 28th.
