Boxing Day

Next: Saturday 26 December 2026

26 December, the traditional day in many villages for mummers’ plays and sword dances.

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The year ahead

Saturday 26 December

Sat 26 Dec 10:30 12:00
Custom

Hunt the Wren

The Woodbourne, Douglas, Isle of Man
Sat 26 Dec 11:00 12:00
Custom

Marshfield Paper Boys

Sets off from Market Place, Marshfield, Gloucestershire
Sat 26 Dec from 11:00
Custom

Grenoside Sword Dance

Old Harrow Inn, Grenoside, South Yorkshire
Sat 26 Dec 11:00 16:00
Custom

Handsworth Sword Dance

St Mary’s Church, Sheffield, South Yorkshire
- Dance
- Boxing Day

Sat 26 Dec 11:15 14:15
Custom

Headington Quarry Boxing Day Mummers

Masons Arms, Headington Quarry, Oxfordshire
Sat 26 Dec 12:00 14:30
Custom

Crookham Mummers

The Exchequer, Crookham Village, Hampshire
- Mumming play
- Boxing Day
Sat 26 Dec 14:00 15:00
Custom

Boxing Day Cammag at St John’s

Tynwald Hill, St John's, Isle of Man

Folklore from the old calendars

Beating the lapstone No longer kept WiltshireAt Nettleton, near Burton, the shoemakers kept up a practical joke on the day after Christmas called beating the lapstone.
Christmas boxes Still kept England, LondonThe day after Christmas was called Boxing Day because tradesmen's boys, apprentices and servants went round the customers collecting money in their Christmas boxes.
Goose pies in the North Riding No longer kept YorkshireA memoir of Christmas in the North Riding of Yorkshire, printed in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1811, told how large goose pies were made on St Stephen's Day.
Holly-beating on St Stephen’s Day No longer kept Pembrokeshire, WalesIn Wales anyone could whip anyone else's legs with holly on St Stephen's Day, and they often kept at it until the blood ran.
Hunting the wren at Middleton Still kept MunsterAn old woman of Middleton in County Cork remembered that on St Stephen's Day the young men of the neighbourhood, in holiday clothes trimmed with coloured ribbons, paraded the town carrying a furze bush with a wren secured in it.
No fasting on St Stephen’s even Lore and belief Northern EnglandA rhyme blessed St Stephen because nobody fasted on the eve of his day, which was Christmas Day itself.
No game laws on St Stephen’s Day No longer kept Northern EnglandIn the North, St Stephen's Day was given over to hunting and shooting by almost everyone.
The Inner Temple Christmas No longer kept LondonThe lawyers of the Inner Temple kept Christmas with elaborate mock ceremony.

Saturday 26 December

Hunt the Wren

Marshfield Paper Boys

Grenoside Sword Dance

Handsworth Sword Dance

Headington Quarry Boxing Day Mummers

Crookham Mummers

Boxing Day Cammag at St John’s

Folklore from the old calendars

Image credits