Party like a Brit on Boxing Day

Perhaps your neighbor is an Anglophile and has invited you to a Boxing Day party. Or you’ve seen it referenced in a cookbook while looking for a recipe for plum pudding. But what, exactly, is Boxing Day, and why would anyone in Los Angeles want to celebrate it?

For starters, it’s a tradition associated with some of the countries once part of the British Empire. In Britain, it currently is a mash-up of Black Friday, Thanksgiving and Labor Day with a twist of Super Bowl Sunday. For some, this means deeply discounted merchandise and door busters at popular stores; for others, it’s a day of sports, televised specials, family, food and leftover turkey sandwiches.

The Dec. 26 holiday has been around since medieval times, when servants were given gifts, boxes of food and the day off to celebrate Christmas (a day late) with their families.

Or not.

The origins of Boxing Day are regularly debated. Some insist that the holiday once coincided with the date that medieval churches distributed the contents of their charitable alms boxes to the poor. It was, perhaps, a nod to St. Stephen, who spent his life in service to the needy and is also remembered on this day. Other experts believe the tradition of “gifting” servants started in the early 19th century.

British expat Luke Howitt is an L.A. attorney with a family that does not seem to share his interest in observing Boxing Day. But as a kid, he thought it was huge; he remembers it as the best day of television all year.

“At my house, Boxing Day is bigger than Christmas,” says Harry Campion, 16, who lives in Preston, England. “We like to have Christmas Day to ourselves, so we don’t get dressed and spend the whole day relaxing.” On Dec. 26, however, Campion adds, “We have all our family and friends ‘round to ours for a big party. My dad cooks gammon and does a roast dinner, then later mum makes more food for the new waves of guests. This goes on until 1 a.m. when everyone starts going home. It’s the highlight of our holiday.”

“All the potential soccer matches are on that day,” says British expat Toria Freed, who works as an office manager in Long Beach. “Basically, what you end up doing is eating, drinking and watching soccer … kind of like Super Bowl Sunday.”

The tradition of parties and watching sports has been exported to British pubs around Southern California. Rich Moritz, manager of the Britannia Pub in Santa Monica, says there will be Boxing Day beer and food specials and celebratory karaoke (you read that correctly). There will also be televised sports and what he describes as a 60-40 split of Americans to Brits. “It’s a fun crowd,” Moritz adds. “People don’t really care what’s going on. They just want to come out and be with others on Boxing Day … it’s almost like that night-before-Thanksgiving type of feeling where everybody’s just really jovial and wants to have a good time.”

Join the conversation on Facebook >>

If it’s not a pub but a Boxing Day party you’ll be attending, prepare to be treated like royalty — or perhaps family. There might be “reinvented” Christmas leftovers (turkey curry, turkey hash or bubble and squeak — made with leftover vegetables from a roast dinner) or a spread fit for a queen. Ambitious hosts might serve up roast beef and Yorkshire pudding, sticky treacle-glazed ham, pickled beet root, salmon, smoked mackerel and trifle.

As a proper guest, you might be wondering what to bring as a gift. Champagne is always appropriate, of course. As are Christmas crackers. But if you really want to party in the style of the British Empire, bring your good manners.

home@latimes.com

ALSO

A growing holiday pastime: returning those unwanted gifts

Disneyland to close some attractions to build ‘Star Wars’ land

Looking for a 2016 vacation? Here are 16 must-see destinations