Gift day

Boxing DayBoxing Day is a holiday celebrated in Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Canada the day after Christmas. Today, its hallmark has become a giant sale in large and small stores. It is on the Day of gifts you can buy any thing you like for half the price. What people, including Australians, use.

However, the roots of this holiday are more than chaste. There are many theories about the origin of Gift Day, but everyone agrees that the holiday began with the custom of giving money and gifts to people of lower social status. Gifts were exchanged among themselves on Christmas Eve, the poor received gifts after. Gifts were given in boxes, hence the name Boxing Day.

Only in the last century, Boxing Day became an official holiday. The combination of two holidays – Christmas and Gifts Day – has further strengthened the tradition of families gathering for Christmas. The only state that doesn’t celebrate Gift Day is South Australia. December 26 is Proclamation Day (otherwise - the foundation of the state).

In Australia, Gift Day is also becoming a significant sporting day (similar in intensity to ANZAC Day ceremonies). In Melbourne, a test match is held on the main cricket field, in Sydney, the annual Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race begins, which is called an icon of Australian summer sports and which rivals such high-profile events for the country as the Davis Cup (tennis) and the Melbourne Cup (jumping).