Hansel Monday.
The Monday after New-Year’s Day, when “hansels,” or free gifts, were given in Scotland to servants and children. Our boxing-day is the first weekday after Christmas Day. (Anglo-Saxon, handselen; hand and sellan, to give.)
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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.