Boxing Day
Boxing Day is celebrated in Britain and countries that have adopted British culture, whether by choice or by fiat. It is the day after Christmas, and there are a number of explanations for the name.
One thing Boxing Day is not about: the sport of boxing, where people pummel each other while prancing around wearing poofy gloves.
One theory is that Boxing Day is so named because the day after the upper classes celebrated Christmas with feasting and games and general merry making, they needed to make some compensation or at least acknowledgement to their servants for their hard work and so gave them little gift boxes, or “Christmas boxes,” with money or small tokens of appreciation for good service.
Or possibly, it is called Boxing Day because December 26 is the feast of St. Stephen, who was one of the first Christian martyrs, and it is a day for donating boxes of goods for the poor.
In any case, it is now celebrated in both the above-mentioned ways, as well as by big after-Christmas sales.
Which makes sense, doesn’t it? Because Christmas, as celebrated in the US and Europe is all about boxes. Packing them up and wrapping them, putting them under the Christmas tree or sending them through the mail, and then unwrapping them and clearing the mess away on—Boxing Day.