As fun as that would be, Boxing Day has nothing to do with the sport of boxing. Instead, it is a holiday observed on Dec 26, the day after Christmas.
That said, the true origins of Boxing Day are murky, with multiple theories on when exactly the first Boxing Day was celebrated.
In a 2022 article, the BBC claimed that Boxing Day was first observed during the reign of Queen Victoria in the 19th century.
At the time, servants of wealthy households were often made to work on Christmas Day, so the following day was a compensation holiday of sorts.
On Dec 26, those servants would be given boxes of anything ranging from gifts to money to leftovers as a holiday bonus.
After receiving these gifts, the servants were free to go home and spend the rest of the day opening and sharing their gifts with their families.
A website called history.com proposes another theory, relating to the alms boxes, commonly found in churches, used to collect donations for the needy.
Dec 26 was often the day the church would redistribute these donations to the poor, in accordance with the Feast of St Stephen.
St Stephen was the first Christian martyr and was also known for his acts of charity. In Ireland, Boxing Day is often called St Stephen’s Day instead.
A clue to Boxing Day’s origins may also have been slipped into the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas.”
Time magazine said that the song about a 10th century Bohemian ruler tells of how, on St Stephen’s Day, the monarch saw a poor man struggling to gather firewood during a snowstorm.
Sympathetic to the man’s plight, Wenceslas gathered a parcel of food and wine and sent it to the man’s home, sparking a practice of charity on Dec 26.
So many different theories, but none with concrete evidence behind them. Nonetheless, themes of charity and selflessness are present in each one of them.
While Boxing Day often goes unobserved in Malaysia, it is celebrated in the UK as well as many other Commonwealth countries, like Australia and New Zealand.
So, what sets Boxing Day apart from Christmas in terms of traditions? Modern-day celebrations often see people meeting family and friends they missed seeing on Christmas Day.
Oftentimes, these gatherings take place at restaurants or watering holes, with feasting and drinking a near guarantee.
It is also perfectly acceptable for people just to spend the day relaxing at home after hectic Christmas feasting.
In the UK, football fanatics are often crowded around their televisions, as football matches resume on Dec 26 after a break for Christmas.
As with most holidays, Boxing Day has also assumed a rather commercialised aspect, with retail outlets offering promotions exclusively on the day.
This is the perfect time for shopaholics to buy items on discount, get themselves Christmas goodies on the cheap, or give back gifts they don’t actually want.
In many cold countries, Boxing Day Dips are organised, which see well-dressed participants going for a dip in the freezing cold sea.
It used to be luxury clothing that would get all wet; these days, people wear their silliest Santa outfits and get soaked!
With Christmas meals often ending with leftovers, Boxing Day is often the time to finish off the last of the tasty morsels.
Lunches are often organised by households with too much leftovers to deal with. Guests are thus able to enjoy second helpings of baked ham and Christmas fruitcake.
While Boxing Day is a day of celebration for many, it is now also a day of remembrance for those who perished in the Dec 26 tsunami of 2004.
Over 200,000 people across the region died that day, among them 67 Malaysians.
Dec 26 is thus a day to both celebrate and remember, as well as a day to give back to those in need.