How did Boxing Day get its name?

Answer 1

Despite the lively images suggested by the name, it has nothing to do with pugilistic expositions between tanked-up family members who have dearly been looking forward to taking a round out of each other for the past year. Likewise, it does not gain its name from the overpowering need to rid the house of an excess of wrappings and mountains of now useless cardboard boxes the day after St. Nick arrived to turn a perfectly charming and orderly home into a maelstrom of discarded tissue paper.

The name also has nothing to do with returning unwanted gifts to the stores they came from, hence its common association with hauling about boxes on the day after Christmas.

The holiday's roots can be traced to Britain, where Boxing Day is also known as St. Stephen's Day. Reduced to the simplest essence, its origins are found in a long-ago practice of giving cash or durable goods to those of the lower classes. Gifts among equals were exchanged on or before Christmas Day, but beneficences to those less fortunate were bestowed the day after.

This expression came about because money was collected in alms-boxes placed in churches during the festive season. This money was then distributed during to the poor and needy after Christmas.

Answer 2

Boxing day is the day after christmas, with a few different stories about its origins:

- The day that everything was boxed up after Christmas, when you pulled down all the decorations and put them away for next year.

- The day that the priests of the churches sorted the charity donations to distribute in boxes

- The day that you threw out all the boxes that the Christmas presents came in

Regardless of the origins, there are some important events that occur here in Australia on this day:

- Boxing Day Test - a cricket game always held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).

- Start of the Sydney to Hobart - a sailing race from Sydney Harbour down to Hobart.