Today in Great Britain and many of its former colonies, including Australia and Canada, is Boxing Day. It is also the feast of the first Christian martyr Stephen, a feast most famously immortalized in the song about good King Wenceslaus. It turns out, all of these different associations for Dec. 26 have something in common — Christmas.
Stephen was one of the first deacons of the church and an eloquent preacher. In fact, he was so successful at convincing many Jews that Jesus was their long awaited Messiah that some of the authorities who had hated Jesus decided they needed to kill Stephen. In a rigged trial, they condemned Stephen, and hauled him outside of Jerusalem to stone him to death. His last words were requesting forgiveness for his killers from God. An approving witness of the martyrdom was a man who would later become an apostle and martyr himself, Saul (see Acts 6-7).
Since the traditional date of Stephen’s martyrdom is celebrated on Dec. 26, inevitably his feast became a part of Christmas, both the Christmas octave (eight days) and the 13-day celebration that ends with Epiphany (the magi’s visit) on “Twelfth Night.” It is not so strange that we should celebrate martyrs during Christmas. After all, Jesus was born that He might die for our sins, and soon after His birth, King Herod massacred the babies of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill Jesus. As the gift of myrrh from one of the three kings prefigured Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and His burial, just so the martyrdom of Stephen is connected with the celebration of Christ’s birth.
Read Also: Netanyahu’s Moving and Thought-Provoking Christmas Message
One of the popular Christmas carols is “Good King Wenceslaus,” about a Bohemian monarch who miraculously warms his page while they trudge through snowy weather to help a poor, starving man on Stephen's feast. Not so coincidentally, Wenceslaus was in fact both a saint and a martyr, just like Stephen. The king was murdered by his pagan brother partly for his efforts to evangelize Bohemia. And in dying for the faith, both Stephen and Wenceslaus followed the example of their Divine Master, Who was born in Bethlehem.
Much later, England started calling Dec. 26 "Boxing Day," which spread to many parts of the English-speaking world. Starting in the 1600s (at least) but becoming particularly prevalent in the Victorian era, English servants all had to work Christmas Day but were given the following day off. Not only was Dec. 26 their day to celebrate, but servants traditionally received boxes with gifts in them or bonuses on Dec. 26, hence the title "Boxing Day."
The Almanac explains:
One of the earliest records of these box gifts dates from 1663. In an entry in his diary, English parliamentarian Samuel Pepys writes that he sent a coach and messenger to his shoemaker to deliver “something to the boys’ box against Christmas” in addition to funds to cover his bill…
The money in the alms (charity) boxes in the church was given to the poor. The church parishioners deposited donations into a box the clergyman set out for that purpose and handed them out at Christmas.
While most of us probably don't have any servants, today is an excellent opportunity for giving money to charity or doing something kind and generous for our loved ones or co-workers. Christmas is the time for giving, and just like St. Stephen and Good King Wenceslaus, we cannot spend the second day of Christmas better than by helping those who most need it.
