What is Boxing day and why is it called that?

As far as I have been told the name Boxing day comes from the early 1600's / 1700's On Christmas day the servants would need to work to serve the food to the masters / rich people. This meant that the servants themselves could not celebrate Christmas day. Also they often would not have the money to spend on a special Christmas meal. As there was often food left over from the Christmas dinner at the masters house, the food would be distributed amongst different boxes. The master would give a box to each servant and sent them home to celebrate Christmas with the family. Hence the name Boxing day. Not sure if this is 100% historically correct and there might be many stories around, but this seems to me a very plausible explanation of the name Boxing day.

Boxing Day is usually on 26 December in the United Kingdom, Canada and some other Commonwealth countries. The day after Christmas Day is also known as St Stephen's Day or the Feast of Stephen as mentioned in the carol 'Good King Wenceslas'. The origins of Boxing Day are uncertain. The name could have come about from the custom of priests opening alms boxes in churches after Christmas. These held money which had been given for needy people in the days coming up to Christmas. Another story of how it began is from the tradition of employers and wealthy people giving their servants and trades people Christmas boxes (gifts) as a way of saying thank you for good service throughout the year.

Boxing Day is the after Christmas, which was synonymous with the boxing and exchanging of gifts that would normally occur on this day by the slaves. Hope this helps. X

Boxing Day is a bank holiday or a public holiday in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Hong Kong, and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population. In South Africa this public holiday is now known as the Day of Goodwill. St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on January 9 according to the Gregorian calendar used in secular (and Western) contexts. It commemorates St Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr.

I don't know if it's true but I always believed that boxing day (the day after christmas) was so named as all the leftovers (food etc) from the day before are boxed up and given away to the less fortunate.

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=what+is+boxing+day Hope it helps!

Its a Bank Holiday