Why is it called Boxing Day?
Boxing Day got its name when Queen Victoria was on the throne in the 1800s and has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. The name comes from a time when the rich used to box up gifts to give to the poor.
Boxing Day was traditionally a day off for servants - a day when they received a special Christmas box from their masters. The servants would also go home on Boxing Day to give Christmas boxes to their families. The day also has religious connections and is celebrated as Saint Stephen's Day in Ireland and the Catalonia region of Spain. In some European countries - such as Hungary, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands - Boxing Day is celebrated as a second Christmas Day.
Churches also played a part in the creation of Boxing Day. Through the year they would take money from churchgoers in the form of a collection and hand it out at Christmas. Many of them stored the collection money in a box, which they opened on Christmas Day. The money was then handed out to the poor the next day - on Boxing Day. Today, those boxes aren't as popular. However some people leave out extra money for people like paper boys and girls in the weeks before Christmas, and call it a Christmas box.
