BOXING DAY

December 26 every year is observed as boxing day in parts of the world.
In today's news analysis correspondent underscores the significance  of boxing day to the Christian community and the Nigerian society at large.
Boxing day which comes every December 26 is a celebration that follows Christmas day.
In the liturgical calendar of Western christianity, boxing day is also observed as St. Stephen's day where nations declares public holiday to enable its citizens observe the day but if the day falls on the weekend, the following Monday is designated as official public holiday.
Some European countries, notably German, Poland, the Netherlands and the Nordic countries, 26 December is celebrated as a second Christmas Day.
According to some Historians, the term boxing day also known as christmas box, dates back to the 17th Century where presents or gratuities are given to those who during the year have rendered one service or the other.
However other Historians traced boxing day to the victorian era where churches often displayed boxes into which their parishioners put donations to be used for charity and other help projects.
Also in this day, in the ancient Britain and other Western World, servants of the wealthy are given time off to visit their families and love ones after serving their master the day earlier which was  xmas day and such servants are usually given boxes, containing gifts, bonuses and sometimes left over goods to take home.
An account of the Holy Bible has it that Jesus Christ, after His birth was presented with three boxes containing Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh, which can be liken  to the boxing day practice of today.
Indeed boxing day no doubt emphasizes on giving.
In the years past, shops and shopping malls had always recorded high sales and patronage of gifts, hampers but with the current reality of the economy, one would wonder how many Nigerians still engage in the act of giving on boxing day.
The economy reality not withstanding, faith based institutions, corporate bodies, politicians and well to do Nigerians are expected to use the day to give to the less privilege, small, orphanage, old people's homes, widows and others who are in need, no matter how small.
It is worth knowing that the act of giving, to a very large extent engenders, the spirit of brotherhood, which Nigerians as a people need to drive our great nation forward on the path of progress and sustainable growth.
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