Although December 26 has a number of holidays associated with it - Kwanzaa, Boxing Day, and Wren Day - the oldest celebration for this day I found is St. Stephen’s Day.
The man who would become Saint Stephen was a Christian deacon in Jerusalem who was known for his service to the poor. He was the first Christian martyr. He was stoned to death in AD 36 for his beliefs.
In the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas,”
Good King Wenceslas looked out
On the feast of Stephen
When the snow lay round about
Deep and crisp and even
When I traveled to Eastern Europe, I saw many churches named for St. Stephen. In Hungary, they mark his feast day on August 20 because that was when his relics were transferred to Buda (now part of Budapest). In 1949, the communist regime there tried to transform the Christian holiday into a political Constitution Day, but since the collapse of the communist state in Hungary, it has returned to being a day for the saint.
One thread that runs through all these December 26 holidays is giving to the poor, which is not a bad thing no matter what your beliefs are about this end-of-year season.
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