Boxing Day is a public holiday that is celebrated on December 26th or the first or second weekday after Christmas in the UK. It began in 19th-century England under the reign of Queen Victoria. One belief is the legend of clergy opening the alms boxes on the day after Christmas to hand out money to the poor. Another opinion is that the name came from merchants handing out boxes of food or clothing to their workers the day after Christmas as a Victorian-era bonus. Today, Brits associate Boxing Day with Christmas leftovers, family gatherings, and shopping. This custom, too, can be tied to Victorian England, when servants who worked on Christmas day, headed home to their families the next day, with boxes full of their employer’s family's leftovers.
