Merry Christmas in advance. This season is full of joy, love and sharing. Though some religions don’t partake in this celebration, Christmas is known to be the largest celebration worldwide in the year. It brings families, friends and even foes together.
In the Christmas season, people give out gifts, some foodstuffs, others hampers. Even with the economic situation, people undeterred, make sure they celebrate Christmas to the fullest. The markets usually record high increase in the number of purchases through demands from customers. There is high demand for Christmas chicken, bags of rice, groundnut oil, goats, wine, drinks and others.
All these are bought to ensure there is no dull moment and there is plenty to eat. Some people are known to put up a lot of weight during the festivity. As we do throwback Thursday, we look at how we celebrated Christmas as children, some of these traditions hold still. They include:
Travelling to the village
Most people migrate to the city for better means of livelihood and lifestyle. The village was reserved for those elderly and retired. The youths, which are the active part of the population, come to the urban centre in search of greener pastures. It is not until Christmas break before they remember to pay their parents, in-laws and relations a visit. They don’t visit empty-handed, they come with their families as well and plenty of gifts. It is a time to show off how well they have fared and achieved all through the year. Travelling to the village is a tradition during Christmas as it is unheard of to forget aged parents and relatives after a whole year.
Buying Christmas clothes and shoes
Every family ensured they look good this period. They ditch old clothes and wear new clothes and shoes tagged for the Christmas celebration. It was children who were particular about these wears. There was no family with children that did not spend money on Christmas outfits, it came with the season. Then mothers buy bigger sizes of clothes or sew bigger clothes, because their children who grew fast, would outgrow them soon. The shoes were also extra-large to accommodate the rate of growth that comes with childhood.
Playing with knockouts
This is not as strong as it was because of the ban. On the 24th of December especially, there was uncontrollable noise from knockouts aka bangers that herald Christmas day. People usually stayed up late on Christmas eve to witness the display and noise of knockouts. It was a little disturbing but was fun. Imagine a Christmas without knockouts, it appeared like people were mourning.
Visiting Father Christmas( Santa Claus)
For those who went to ‘tush’ school, they visited Santa Claus but for the opposite, it was Father Christmas. The difference was clear. Father Christmas was familiar, you could tell it was one of the teachers from your school. His beard was made from a mop and his belly was stuffed with a pillow. He was a bit scary as toddlers found it difficult to seat on his laps but he was friendly with the gift-giving. We always look forward to the school end-of-year party where we meet with Father Christmas. We also hastened to open the gifts he shared.