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what is boxing day

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2 Answers

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When someone mentions "Boxing day" and for anyone who is visiting Canada or United States, would wonder why such a name. The first guess would be a day for "Boxing sports" or similar events. But in fact, boxing day has nothing to do with the actual boxing sports. 

Originally, the name came up in the past, when rich people in United Kingdom or Commonwealth countries, would "Box" up a gift for their servants and maids. The action of wrapping up a gift would be called "Boxing" and as such, it came to be known as a day for "Boxing" gifts for someone. The servants would also pass on the tradition and "Box" a gift for their own family members. 

This "Boxing" day traditionally happened after a Christmas day and ever since, it had remained so. Nowadays, a lot of companies had taken advantagr of boxing day to sell their products on discount either online or in store. 

People had always come out in drove, to buy products and gifts for their love ones or friends. This could turn out to be a chaos scene for some reatilers, when there are too many people shopping at the same time. Employees find it hard to do any loss prevention on their goods and products. Theft, fights, arguments, damages, and even shooting is quite common during boxing Day holiday season.

This is why a lot of people opt to remain at home and make their purchases online. Buying items online saves a lot of trouble from actually going to a physical brick and mortar store and browsing the aisle for gifts. Some items like clothes, shoes, gloves which has the problem of finding their right sizes, would require people to head out to the malls. Otherwise, electronic items and kitchen appliances which are of standard models and sizes are better purchased online without any hassles.

People sometime make a joke out of the name "Boxing day" which they say means, this is a day for Boxing your way, with other people to buy your gifts from the stores. It actually almost hold true for some places because those places can get really crowded and you literally have to "Box" your way around in the store. 

Boxing day is also the last holiday discount season after which, there won't be much discount for items for a while. If you had missed out on a discount for an item during the black Friday sale, boxing day is the perfect time to buy those items on discount again. 

Please note that the sale price for black Friday deal and boxing day deal are quite similar. You can purchase your desired items on either day, and you could still be saving. Boxing day also doesn't only run for one single day as traditionally it used to be. Nowadays, it runs for a week and in some cases even for 2 weeks after Christmas day. They call it "Boxing week".
answered by Victor
0 votes
Back in school in England, I was told it was called Boxing Day because the day after Christmas day the poor would go around the rich homes collecting all the empty gift boxes put/thrown out to sell for some money.
answered by Tim

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