What Boxing Day is
Boxing Day is December 26, the day after Christmas. It is observed in Canada and in other Commonwealth countries such as the United Kingdom and Australia. The same day is the feast of Saint Stephen in the Western church calendar. The origin of the name is not certain; the most common explanations involve boxes of gifts or money given to servants, tradespeople or the poor on the day after Christmas.
Holiday status
Boxing Day is a federal statutory holiday in Canada, but provinces differ. In Alberta it is not one of the general holidays, so whether you have the day off depends on your employer. Check your own workplace’s holiday schedule rather than assuming. If the day falls on a weekend, any day off may be observed on a different weekday.
Shopping and sport
In Canada Boxing Day is best known as a big shopping day, with sales in stores and online, and as a day for hockey: the IIHF World Junior Championship has often opened on or around the day after Christmas. The date is fixed at December 26, and the countdown ends at the first moment of that day on your device’s clock.
Boxing Week and busy stores
Many retailers now run sales across the whole of Boxing Week, not only on December 26, and some stores open early or start their online sales at midnight. Opening hours differ from shop to shop and from city to city, so check each store before you head out. If you are travelling after Christmas, roads and airports can be busy at this time of year. A short list helps here too: decide what you actually need before you queue, note which shops are open and when, and keep the countdown open to see how long you have.
Counting down
Heading to a sale or a game? The countdown timer can time the queue or the drive, and the clock helps with opening hours. You can embed the countdown on a shop page. Christmas comes a day before, and New Year’s Eve five days after.
More countdowns
Need a different date? Use the countdown to any date or count up with time since a date.
Questions
What date is Boxing Day this year?
Boxing Day is always December 26. The countdown above always shows the next one, so it is right for the current year without any lookup. Only the weekday changes from year to year.
Why is it called Boxing Day?
The origin is not certain. The most common explanations involve boxes of gifts or money given to servants, tradespeople or the poor on the day after Christmas. It is observed in Canada and several other Commonwealth countries.
Is Boxing Day a holiday in Alberta?
Boxing Day is a federal statutory holiday, but in Alberta it is not one of the general holidays, so it depends on your employer. Check your workplace’s holiday schedule to be sure about your own day off.
Is Boxing Day always the day after Christmas?
Yes, the date is always December 26. When it falls on a weekend, a day off may be observed on a different weekday, but the countdown always counts to December 26 itself.