Boxing Day?

As i sit here writing this, it's now six months since i arrived in the US and i have to say that it's absolutely flown by - and i'm sure it must feel the same for some of you as well. Anyway, when i've mentioned this to friends over here, or to those who have asked, i've always said '6 months on Boxing DAy' only to be met with the response of 'Boxing Day?'. Thus, i've had to explain that that's what we call the 26th December in the UK. And, of course, i've nearly always been asked why.

Now the first reason that always springs to my mind is that it's the day when you get rid of all the boxes and wrappings from Christmas (so it's more of a Boxing Out day) - and i vaguely remember being told that when i was younger. However, if you look on the Net, there are also two other schools of thought - the first being that it was the day when the household servants were given gifts - their Servant Boxes - by their masters. The second is that it was apparently the traditional day when the churches would break open their collection boxes to distribute money to the poor. Now whether any of these reasons are true, i have no idea - but Boxing Day it is, and Boxing day it always will be. Just pity the person who thought it meant there was a World Title Fight on somewhere and wanting to know where he could watch it!