Why Boxing Day

Does anyone know why Boxing Day is so called ??

I used to think, when I was little, it was because boxing was on TV that day

because in ye olden days the survents etc would get a box from the employer (a gift of food and stuff for their families) and got to take it to their families cause they worked on xmas day

hence boxing day

Thanks for that Hayley, I had often wondered about that one.

I thought it was because of boxing on the tv too

I thought it was because of boxing on the tv too

Glad I'm not the only spanner on here then

That's one definition, but there's also another one which might actually go back even further than that. Churches in this country from the middle ages onwards (maybe even before) would put a poor box in the Church on Christmas day. The boxes would then be opened the following day & the contents distributed to the local poor.

Yeah there's that one too. But it kind of rang the same bell to me, the less fortunate getting a box lol

Yes, both similar.

It's hard to get a definite answer, though, when the word's been around for so many years! It gets lost in the mists of time.