Family gatherings, beach parties and picnics characterise Boxing Day celebrations 

Today is Boxing Day. Boxing Day is a day that is traditionally celebrated a day after Christmas. 

The day is also called St. Stephen's Day, and marked as a religious holiday. 

Boxing Day can be traced back to the Victorian era, when churches often displayed a box into which their parishioners put donations.  

Also, in the past in Britain, on the day after Christmas Day, servants of the wealthy were given time off to visit their families because their services were required for the Christmas Day celebrations of their employers. 

The servants were therefore allowed the following day for their own observance of the holiday and each servant is handed a box to take home, containing gifts, bonuses and sometimes leftover food.

This tradition has come to stay as Boxing Day and is now associated with the exchange of gifts among families, friends and loved ones.  

In Ghana, the day is a public holiday and is observed with picnics, family gatherings and beach parties.

Meanwhile, some children of today (December 26), are of the view that Boxing Day is a day designated for fights. 

Radio Ghana caught up with a man of God, the Rev. Dr. Dan Markin who explained Boxing Day as a day gifts are exchanged in boxes.  

GBC