Boxing Day is a holiday spent on 26 December, a day after Christmas and celebrated across the world.
While the day has nothing to do with the popular sport boxing, here is why we celebrate Boxing Day.
Boxing Day originated in the United Kingdom where alm boxes, placed in front of churches to collect donations for the poor were opened.
The boxes also reffered to as “poor box” were placed at churches to collect special offerings for the Feast of Saint Stephen which is celebrated on the same day as Boxing Day.
Other reports indicate that on Boxing Day, employees would receive gifts in form of boxes from their employers for their service through out the year.
On this day in the British tradition, employees or servants were allowed to visit their families where they were given boxes to take to their families. The boxes contained bonuses, gifts and Christmas leftovers.
Merriam Webster defines Boxing Day as the first weekday after Christmas observed as a legal holiday in parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and marked by the giving of Christmas boxes to service workers (such as postal workers)
Today, the day is marked by gifting and major football matches such as the English Premier League Boxing Day fixtures.
