What is Boxing Day? How it became an English Premier League tradition

For a lot of football fans, Boxing Day means one thing: Premier League football.

The day has been marked on the competition's calendar for so many years now it's become an firm tradition. 

Other leagues around Europe take a two-week break over Christmas and New Year, but the UK piles on the fixtures. U.S. fans can equate the day to how the NFL is synonymous with Thanksgiving, or (to a lesser extent) how Christmas Day is for the NBA.

Premier League games rack up ratings as fans plan to be home planted on the couch, feasting on Christmas Day leftovers and enjoying Premier League action. 

So what is Boxing Day and how did it come to such prominence? Here's a brief run-through of the history and tradition surrounding Boxing Day in the UK.

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Boxing Day falls on December 26 every year. 

Always the day after Christmas Day, it's a vital 24 hours for many after the chaos of Christmas. 

Boxing Day is an annual holiday in the UK that falls on December 26, or the day after Christmas.

It is a "bank holiday" — essentially what Americans refer to as a federal holiday — meaning most businesses are closed and most employees have the day off.

The term "Boxing Day" has been traced back to Charles Dickens who coined the term in 1833, and Boxing Day has been an established holiday since 1871, although references to a day of gift-giving on this date go back even further.

It is named after the tradition of employers handing out boxes of Christmas gifts to employees, especially to servants and other household employees who were required to work on Christmas.

Today, while the original intent of the holiday has all but disappeared (most holiday charity events now take place in the run-up to