Boxing Day

So why’s it called Boxing Day?

The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day. Its origins are found in a long-ago practice (early seventeenth century) of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower classes. The term Christmas box appeared about then in which apprentices took around at Christmas to collect money. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but beneficences to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after.

Some time after the beginning of the nineteenth century, the word box of Christmas box shifted to refer to the day after Christmas day, on which such gratuities were often requested and on which the original Christmas box was taken round. The first recorded use of Boxing Day for the 26th December is in 1833.