Christmas: The Day

Chapter 4

The Christmas Day

Christmas is a festival of the Christians. This is a celebration of the birth of Jesus by the Virgin Mary. The Muslims agree that he is the prophet of God. They also agree that he was born by a virgin. We use to discuss this mater in a friendly way. I will tell what we believe and they will tell me what they believe.

They also celebrate with us in those days in the spirit of good neighborliness. They will say in Hausa, “Barka da krisimati” which means happy Christmas and the Christians will give them “Goro kristmati” which is a token that can take many form. It can actually be some kola nut which is known as goro, money, food, any or all of the above.

The Muslim children will join us in eating and drinking and sometime in going about for Christmas.

            Some of my friends that use to visit me at such time that I can still remember were children like Habibu, Bala, Audu, Nalado, Ite, Inuwa, \Hassan, Ussaini, and Mutuwa. Mutuwa means death. Names in Africa are given to descript or signify a circumstance that one finds himself. This could be a name given by parents whose children are constantly dying. Mutuwa was however a Christian boy.

            It should be noted that the girls had there friends and in those days boys and girls do not hang out together except the girl is your sister. The only Hausa girls that were close to me by any stretch of the imagination were Maimuna and Bango and this is because they hulk things and I was their customer. Sometime they will hulk Aya dakuwa Ground nut Alkaki or allele. Dakuwa and Alkaki are local foods that are particular to Nothern Nigeria.

On the day of Christmas the mothers will wake up early and cook rice, some time as early as 4.00AM. This is particularly true of those mothers that did not fry there meat the day before Christmas. The children will wake up in the morning to the aroma of stew, meat and rice in the morning. At that time in many houses this is the only time rice and stew is eaten.

            In the morning of Christmas we will exchange food, Christmas cards and money with neighbors irrespective of religion. Many of us will like to take the food to our neighbors because when you do they will tip us with a little money as happy Christmas money. There will be plenty rice and meat in our houses from different houses on that day. We will taste the food and select the best and most palatable and dwell on it. We will eat a little of the meat and set aside the rest until we return from the Church.

            One thing about meat at this time is the verity. This is only time in my childhood that I  had to choose the type of meat that I want to eat. There will be fried meat, the one in the stew and pepper soup with meat. There was also be beef,  goat meat,  and chken. The chicken consist of home grown and agri-chicken. The home grown was sweeter and stronger than the agri-chicken meat.

We will wear our Christmas clothes and go to church after eating our early meal which serves as our break fast. It will be a service of Christmas carols, offering announcements, exhortation and prayers.

A major thing that happens at the gate of the church at the closure of the service apart from greeting each other and wishing one another happy Christmas is the show of dresses. People will dress in very colourful dresses. Many will be dressed in the latest design. We as children will spend time admiring the different types of dresses. The ones we spent time much on is the +andcos.” This refers to those that dress as a group. It could be children of the same family or husband and wife. There was one Mr Obadiah who always saws andco with his wife year in year out. We had so much admiration for this couple.

When we return from  church we will invite our Muslim friends to our houses for lunch. We will converge and everyone will eat to his satisfaction. This is eating round two. The first one that took place in the early in morning hours before we go to church was an appetizer.

One interesting thing is that my father unlike others usually buys our families’ shoes very early in the morning on Christmas day. He does this because they are cheaper on that day. At this time it is a last opportunity sale for the shop owners. If they do not sell it on that Christmas day they will have to wait till another Christmas for a bumper sell.

Many Christmas will end up for me with all boys of the Chikaji community playing ball together as usual on the field. The children on the field will comprise of both the Christian and the Muslim children. I will come back home dirty and my mother will be unhappy and scold me.

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