Why Is Boxing Day So Called?

There are several possible answers to this, but the most likely is that this day (26 December) was historically the day when the church collecting boxes were opened and the money given to the poor. It was also the day when the tradespeople collected their Christmas boxes, or special tips. Like many modern Christian customs, this one may have started with the Romans; they certainly used collecting boxes.

We first hear of Boxing Day as a real institution in the time of Queen Victoria in the mid-nineteenth century. Before that, 26 December already had some importance as St Stephen's Day.

Nowadays Boxing Day is typically a quiet day. It is a public holiday but increasingly the big stores are open, so some people use it as a chance to go shopping before all the January Sales bargains are snapped up. For others, the day is often spent at home with the family, recovering from Christmas Day and, traditionally, eating leftover turkey.