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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Christmas: The Eve

Chapter 3

The Christmas Eve

This is a day of final preparation everyone wants to be sure that their clothes are in the box. It is rushing hours. Last minute shopping is done at this time. There is also the matter of collecting one’s dresses from the tailor for some

 But most importantly it is a day of cooking. There is the cooking of stew, frying of meat, preparation of kumu zaki and “chinchin”. Chinchin is made from flower) it small and harder than bones. The children usually go close to their mothers to have a taste her cooking and I was not left out. 

The Christmas Eve service which is made of Christmas carol holds in the night. It sometimes hold at midnight. The popular “silent night is sung.” There is an exhortation usually on the real meaning of Christmas. This is explained as the birth of the Savior and Emmanuel meaning God with us.

There was also the explanation of what it is not. We are usually told that Christmas is not about eating, drinking and wearing of new dresses. Sometimes this is dramatized. But believe me as children Christmas was both to us. We were nappy about Emmanuel. We were also excited about having Christmas dresses, food and drink in abundance at least once a year.

The truth is this is the only time that many will eat rice to their satisfaction. Meat was also a rear delicacy but it was also available in abundance at this time. As far as the children are concern over and above anything else that is happening on the Christmas Eve is the anticipation of the following day –Christmas!

Christmas in Northern Nigeria coincides with the end of the raining seasons. This is the harvest season. Many in the community were subsistence farmers. Many who have jobs also do a little farming. Therefore, the rice that many people eat at this time was locally farm. In many cases it is from the farm of the people cooking it. It was full of small stones and one has to use a calabash and water to sieve the stone from the rice. At Christmas it was therefore a lot of work because of the quantity of the rice.

A few rich ones will go for a popular brand of foreign rice that is called Ungle Ben’s rice. At first as a child I use to think it was unglue beans that was the name of the rice. I use to wander how unglue beans will not be beans but rice.  This type of rice was bigger than the one we knew. It also did not have small stones.  It therefore does not need sieving. As children we were also attracted to it because it comes in a beautiful pack.

In those days we did not go to visit Father Christmas but there were Christmas songs everywhere in public places by the people selling one thing or the other ranging from shoes stockings to cloths, ear rings necklaces and bungles . At the same tine there were those that where hulking such things.

At home my father’s favourite songs was a collection of Christmas song by bonny-M. The album will be played on Christmas Eve and on Christmas day. It will be played over and over again and the volume will be high. I could at that time sing all the songs along with Bonny-M. My favourite track however, was “Felix nabi die” I did not know the meaning of the song then but I like its bit.  I guessed it was wishing Felix happy Christmas. As I grew up I checked the meaning and found that it means, “Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year and happiness.”

Our Muslim friends also partook in the Christmas Eve activities by selling Tomatoes, Onion and different types of pepper to us because they were the only ones that were gardeners.  Some of them will hulk their produce from house to house. My childhood friends were also involved in the hulking.

On this day the children will generally and secretly try out their clothes for the very last time. Any adjustment needed will be made on this day. In the afternoon we will decorate our houses with Christmas light and Christmas cards and some time pictures depicting the season like the shepherds, wisemen, angel or Mary and the baby Jesus.

It is also a day we go around the community houses to house singing songs and beating drums to gather money for the Boy’s Brigade Nigeria. But before this we will spend sometimes in front of the church after the Christmas Eve service singing and dancing. The visitation to houses will thereafter follow.

When our young Muslim friends see us passing they will be cheering us on with excitement. They will be calling our names. We will shout back at them. I can still hear the voice of Habibu and Audu saying, “John Happy Christmas.” I will shout back, “Happy Christmas” or “Same to you.”

We had no problem with each other. We loved each other and do the same during Sallah which is the Muslim equivalent of Christmas.

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Christmas: The Preparations

Chapter 2

The Preparations

Christmas was usually a long time preparation in those days. It is a preparation for an event but one could describe it as “preparations” because of so much that is involved. The preparation usually starts two or three months to Christmas. Parents begin to save money for clothes, shoes, food and “happy Christmas” money.

The “happy Christmas” money is given to children as part of Christmas celebration when they wish someone happy Christmas. Some men prepare to give happy Christmas money by going o the bank and changing their money into new and lower notes. It seems some Muslims men also prepare the happy christmas money. This is because as children we use to wish them happy Christmas and they will give us some money. 

The tradition is when someone wishes you a happy Christmas by saying, “Happy Christmas” you will give him something usually some loose change or say, “Same to you.” As children we did not like same to you. We wanted a gift preferably some money.

Parents who prepare early will buy clothes for their children and hide them in their boxes. One will not like his Christian friends to know what his Christmas clothes looked like. It is however interesting to know that we did not mind showing our Muslims friend our Christmas clothes. We will secretly take it to them and usually the comment is, “It is nice.”

One will however guard it as a secret to his Christian friends. This is done in order to surprise them on Christmas day. If your younger one makes the mistake of telling your Christian friends your type of Christmas clothes you will punish him. If he goes beyond that and shows them the clothes before the D day that will really be serious. The only thing you will desire at this point is to have another one.

Many children do not have Christmas clothes until the actual day of Christmas. Their parents will be struggling to raise the money. It will be a game of waiting and hoping for the children. One’s mother will usually take him to the market to buy his shoes. In those days most families where poor. This true to the point that Christmas clothes were the only new clothes that many parents can afford to buy for their children annually. This is one of the reasons why the Christmas clothes were special.

  This also means that in many instances apart from the Christmas clothes no one will buy a new cloth for you again until another Christmas. Occasionally your mother will buy second hand cloths call “gonjo” for you. Some very poor parents will go to the market and select a very good gonjo and iron it for their children for Christmas. In most cases however families in those days go to the tailors for Christmas clothes. One of the worse things that can happen to one is for his friends to know that his dress is gonjo. They will ridicule him and he will feel belittled.

It is usually a busy time for the Tailors. All tailors whether Christian or Muslim will be busy in the season. Since my family believes in going to the Tailors for our Christmas clothes; Most of the time I wore tailor sewn clothes on Christmas rather than already made. My brothers and I always have the same type of clothe.

In those days we use our mothers a common question over and over again as the chrisstmas draws near. This question is, “Mummy when are we going to the Tailors for measurement?” This is important because the measurement gives one hope that he will be having Christmas clothes. As long as you have not been taken to the tailor you are not yet sure that you will have Christmas clothes.  We use to ask our friends, “Have you been taken to the Tailor for measurement?” If the answer is yes we will celebrate with them. If the answer is no we will feel sorry for them and encourage them by saying, “We believe they will soon take you to the Tailor go and ask your mother.”

One of the highlight of Christmas in those days was the counting of days. We were always counting the days to Christmas. This is particularly done in the so call “ember” months. The ember months are those months that end with e-m-b-e-r.

If one is young and can’t count he will ask his older ones to tell him when it will be Christmas. The most exciting day is when one is told that, “If we sleep and wake up two times it will be Christmas.” There were some children who will keep stones and be removing them one by one in order to count the days of Christmas.

For example if they keep thirty stones each day they will remove one and count the reminder. This is the way they will know how many days are left. When you remove one stone from thirty, twenty nine will be left. The subtraction and counting will continue until the day of Christmas. The day it remains two stones one know that it is a day to Christmas Eve that is two days to Christmas. Another way is to tell one that if we sleep and wake twice it will be Christmas.

Many men do not bother themselves with Christmas clothes. This is not the case with women and children. It was a must for them in those days. I remember one Mrs Alfa who had a fight with her husband. This was because he did not buy Christmas clothes for her.

We heard the husband saying “Me ya sa baki yi dahuwa ba?” This Hausa words when translate in English means, “Why did you not cook?”  Her answer was, “Domin baka saya mani kaya Christmas ba?” The translation in English is, “Because you did not buy Christmas clothes for me.” He slapped her and a quarrel insure. Interestingly as children we were supporting the wife secretly in our heart. We could not understand how a man will not buy Christmas clothes for his wife.

It was also common for children whose parent could not afford to buy Christmas clothes for them to cry. There were some that will refuse to got to church on that day.

Tailors palava was common in those days. Our tailor who was a Kurama man a “play mate” to us has never failed us. The fact that we stayed in the same compound also contributed to this. It was however, common for tailors to collect a lot of clothes for sewing beyond their capacity. This is done in a bit to make a lot of money in the season. The end result will be their inability to bit the day of collection that they themselves have assigned to people. They usually run and hide on Christmas day or spent the day sewing clothes.

It also seem to me that there were cases of complains that were not genuine. Looking back now I suspect that some parents could not afford to buy Christmas clothes for their children. This will now cause them to hide behind putting the blame on tailors. In this regard some of “The Tailor could not finish the dresses” generated were false. This is also palatable to parents because it was easy for children to accept it since such practice was common.

Many a times the customers also contribute to this problem. They will not plan or bring their clothes early. They will come late and insistently plead with the tailors to collect their own clothe whereas they can see clearly that the Tailor’s hands were full. There were cases of children who did not have anything new to wear on Christmas day and hear them complain, “My clothes is with the Tailor.”

Interestingly I had favour with a particular Bajju woman one Mrs Elisha. She considered me as one of her children as such she will sew Christmas clothe for me. This is an extra Christmas cloth for me apart from the one sewn by my parents. In this way I was lucky. I will wear one on Christmas day and another one on New Year day.

The Christmas day in Zaria was a special day. All the Christians will go to church. The children, women and in some cases men will dressed in Christmas dresses. Christmas in Zaria is usually windy and cold. It is a time when the Hamatan will be blowing hard. This however does not reduce the excitement or stop the celebration at all.

Children will defile the cold and move about freely. They will throw “knock out” that is fireworks. The knock out was more pronounce on the Christmas Eve and the New Year Eve Celebration than on the actual day of Christmas.  Our own celebration as children will continue from Christmas day to New Year day since we were on Holidays.

It must also be mentioned that we use to pray that the National Electricity and Power Authority (NEPA) will not take electricity so that it will result in black out. You will hear children telling one another, “Allah ya sa kada NEPA su dauke wuta wannan Christmas!” The English translation is, “May God make NEPA not to take electricity this Christmas”. The answer is usually, “Amin.” That is, “Amen.” Electricity has improved now but it was and is still a major problem in Nigeria.

I was recently told by someone that Nigerians are the number one users of generating set in the world. One can never be sure of when electricity will be available. Some have said the real meaning of the acronym NEPA is Never Expect Power Always.

Therefore in those days when NEPA makes electricity available there will be a loud shout of “Yeee!” in the whole community. All our singing and dancing on the Eve and Christmas day will not be possible without electricity. The provision of electricity by NEPA was therefore a major prayer point for us as children. I guess it was also true of the adult since in many cases children say what the adults are thinking.

There wasn’t much problem with water at Christmas on the order hand. There was tab water in many house. If you do not have one you can easily fetch from the neigbours. The water board hardly takes water from the tabs in those days. In any case if they do most of the houses had wells that one can fall back to. We therefore learn to draw water from the well early in life. Everyone had his own guga. Guga is a small bucket or container tired to a long rube that one uses in fetching water from the well.

The table of water was not far therefore one did not need to dig more than seven or eight feet to get water. I however remember a well we dug that the channel of water was the same with our toilet and the water got contaminated.

I particularly remember a certain Christmas that our father reared Agri-Chickens for Christmas. That particular Christmas was chicken galloo. We ate and also gave neighbors chicken. However one particular hen was left.

It grew big and terrorized little children by collecting their food. As an example if a child is taken tea and bread the hen will attack the child and collect the bread from him. In most cases the tea will pour on the ground. We nicked name the hen “Kaza breadi” that is a chicken that its bread in Hausa. This is because it mostly attacks children when they are eating bread. The day they slaughter it we all mourn for it.

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The Early Days

Chapter 1

The Early Days

My early days in the Chikaji community were full of suspicion. My parents were not sure of the new community that we have just move into and wanted me to be careful of the Boys. I was therefore careful although I longed for friends to play with. I did not know who these boys where and they in turn did not know me. We use to stare at each other.  Later I found out that the boys were Hausa and Muslims. Everything about this was new to me.

The five time daily prayers were strange to me. The loud speaker was directly behind our house therefore we could hear it clearly when the sallah call is made. There was a point whereby I could say the Sallah call word for word because I heard it several times in a day.

I created more suspicion when I started to go to church with my big Bible in my hand. I could tell that most of the boys had not seen a Bible before now. I could tell this by the way they stare at my Bible. One or two of them on some occasions wave at me and I waved back.

However, there was a little group among them that use to confront me on my way to church. They will try to pick a quarrel with me. The last day that this took place it resulted into a misunderstanding.

However, One day one of them whom I later found out was Audu came to me with a soccer ball in his hand. He asked me to join him in playing it and I did. There after we became friends.

Gradually we became friends with them one by one. Our meetings in the community primary school, market and particularly soccer field also contributed in making us to become friends. We later form a soccer club that was called Chikaji Eleven and I was the captain.

Our friendship got to the point that we were going to one another’s houses. This is possible because children were allowed to enter the “kulle” houses. I went beyond the “Zaure” in many houses. My favourite hose was however that of my special friends the twins, Hassan and Usaini.

Language was also a barrier to our friendship but with time I leant to speak Hausa like them. One of the most interesting part of learning Hausa is for one to be able to say “Kura ture turmi  turmi ture kura” as fast as you can over and over without biting your tongue. If you can do this my friends consider you to be a good Hausa speaker.

Two of the most important people that taught me Hausa were Hassan and Usaini. The rest of my Hausa was leant by association and as a subject in school.

My Hausa became good and it allow me mingle among them without one knowing the difference. When I am among my tribe men the Jaba people and speak Hausa they say my Hausa is too deep. There Hausa was full of mother tongue interference. There are example like when the want to say, “Gona” that is farm in Hausa they will say, “Gwana.”  “Kosai” is also pronounced as “Kwasai.”

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Christmas in African: A Community Peace Experience

Production Benjamin Bissan Shekari Lives on Foundation (BBSLOF) ©BBSLOF 2015. This Story is posted here with Express permission of BBSLOF -NigeriaThis is a product of the peace initiative of BBSLOF. We believe world peace can be achieved one community at a time.

Table of Contents

Introduction………..……………….........................................................……………………….4

Chapter 1The Early Days…………………......................................................…………....…….5

Chapter 2  The Preparations.……………………….......................................................……......7

Chapter 3  The Christmas Eve…….......................................................……………………......17

Chapter 4  The Christmas Day……………….....................................................……….......…22

Chapter 5  The Boxing Day…….......................................................……………………..…...31

Chapter 6 Christmas in my Teenage………......................................................……….............36

Epilogue………………………………………........................................................…………39

Other African Peace Books…………........................................................………...…………40

Glossary……………………………………......................................................……………..42

Introduction

My name is John. I grew up in a community called Chikaji in Sabon Gari Zaria. Zaria is part of Kaduna State in Northern Nigeria of West Africa. We came to Zaria in 1973 then I was in class three in the primary School. We were a family of six but one of my sisters, comfort died. We however with time grew to become a family of eight. It was made of three boys and five girls.

The chikaji community was a mixture of Hausa Muslims and Christians, although there were more Muslims that Christians. However we all lived in peace. These books are real life stories of my childhood experiences that are told in a fictituos form.

The stories that are told in these series are meant to give someone a glimpse of how we lived in peace in those days.

They are particularly aimed at young minds in order to encourage them to change the future. They are a cry for us to return to the old peaceful days that existed in Northern Nigeria and Africa in general. They are lessons for religious tolerance and co-existence particularly between Muslims and Christians.

The introduction and chapter one of all the books in the series are almost the same. There are only a few changes in order to emphasize the story in each particular book.

This book in the series is a description of how we celebrate Christmas. It however emphasizes how we co-exist as a community that is mixed; One that was made of Christians and Muslims. It begins with our early days in the Chikaji Community, then the preparation for Christmas, the Christmas Eve, the Christmas day, the Boxing Day and the final chapter is a look at Christmas in my teenage. This last chapter is important because it describes some development that took place in the community. It shows how this resulted in a negative impact on the peaceful co-existence of the Community.

Christmas: The Boxing Day

Chapter 5

The Boxing Day

Two things characterize this day in those days. The first is eating of left over’s and the second is visitation. The left over rice will be boiled and eaten with yesterday’s fried meat. Some kunu Zaki may most likely be available.

This is day two of visitation. Place we could not visit on Christmas day will receive our attention on the Boxing Day. We will continue to visit homes to wish them a happy Christmas while the adult tips us. 

This is possible because the government usually gives the public two days as holiday at Christmas. On this day we also go to far places. We will for instance walk from Sabon Gari to Samaru. This is a distance that is more than five kilometers. We will come back in the evening tired and go to bed early. We usually give our mothers our share of happy Christmas money to keep for us.  We do not usually know what will later happen to it. I can only remember once after a Christmas I bought a penholder and ink with my money. We have been taught not to spend any money given to us without first bringing it home to our parents./

At the end of this day we will count our money and share it among ourselves. When I grew older and became teenagers while sharing we will add an extra share that we will use in buying minerals.  We will buy drinks like coke, Fanta and 7up and have a feast.

We will go to a mounting at the end of the day in Government Reserved Area (GRA) to sit down and eat our chichin, meat and minerals with all our friends. We will go with a Radio cassette player and play bonny-M Christmas music and sing and dance. At that time there were no CD players./ This is my recollection and description of Christmas in my days as a child.

Chapter 6

Christmas in My Teenage Years

            I considered it important to descript in this chapter how my Christmas activities in the community change and some other negative developments that affected the community at that time.

            In the 1980s there was the rise of a pop group by the name of cool and the gang. The hard a very popular song titled “get down on it,” Parties where organized by secondary students at Christmas brake. I attended the first one that was done in our community and it became the first and the last party I attended because of what happened that day.

            It started with one of the students serving as an MC. There was introduction that is one will stand up say his name and the school he attends, the purpose of the Christmas party was the next item. It was followed by uniform dance of the song get down on it. Next it was riddle and jokes.

The problem started when it came to item seven. Alcohol then known as boas was introduced. I did not know what it meant when they say it was time to boas. They brought out cartons of beer and kept them at the centre. To my surprise many of my Muslim and Christian friends rush for the Boas. I did not know that they have been drinking alchogol secretly.

I later discover their source of drinking to one man that came newly to the community and was selling beer, cigarette and cannabise (wewe) to children.

The party ended up in a fight and some of us had to escape through the widow. The were some that were injured

            The activity of this drug lord that I mention earlier brought others like him. Many of it was football and the fear of God that stopped us from venturing into drug abuse. Our coach observed what was happening was constantly warning us that if you enter into drugs you will not be a good soccer player. We had a passion for football and will not like to attempt anything that will jeopardize this. Many of my friends that started stopped. In the church activities we were also warn that drunkard will inherit the kingdom of God.

            Unfortunately solution was introduce into the community and those who could not afford to buy the other drugs went for it. One of my friends in the community and a classmate took to solution and became mentally derail. He got to the point of  working necked on the streets. However, he could still recognize me and I still feel pity for him.

Epilogue

A story in Africa always has a lesson. The understate factors of peace are the lessons we can learn among others:

1.      We lived together: People can co-exist there isn’t a Muslim or a Christian community as is the case now in many places.

2.      We visited each other: You knew where people lived and you are able to visit them.

3.      We ate together: No bodies’ food was looked down at. We eat each other’s food happily.

4.      We gave one another gifts: You neighbor can give you a gift during festive period even when he does not belong to your faith.

5.      We played ball together: We hard recreation and sporting activities together.

6.      Drug abuse is a destroyer of peace. There cannot be peace in any community where the abuse of drug is prevalent.

7.      In a pluralistic society the used of festivities can tremendously help to unite and create peaceful co-existence.

It has been over 30 years now since I left the Chikaji community. I have lost touch with most of the people mentioned in this book except for one or two. Recently, I made some that has left a neigbouring community of chikaji. I ask him about the community. He told me that the drug abuse have continued in the area.

About Us

By buying this book you have contributed to the peace initiative and the activities of Benjamin Bissan Shekari Lives on Foundation, we therefore wish to thank you so very much.

Our Website www.bbslofng.org

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Books on Peace from Africa

1.                  Sallah Day in Africa: A Community Peace Experience

2.                  Christmas Day in Africa: A Community Peace Experience

3.                  Chikaji Eleven: A  Youth Soccer Team in Africa

4.                  Here we Go Again: A Youth Hunting Team in Africa

Glossary

1.       Dakuwa is an Africa food. It is  a snack made of fried and grinded Ground nut, pepper and flower.

2.       Allele is an African food. It is  also called call moimoi in Western Nigeria. It is made of sulked and grinded beans and pepper. Sometimes egg and meat are added to it.

3.       Alkaki is an African food. It is a snack made of flower and honey.

4.       Gidan Kule: This is the prudery Hausa Muslim houses whereby men are not allowed to enter them.

5.       Zaure: This is an attach room to a main house that is usually found in puder houses whereby a male visitor and wait for the owner of the house. The excuse is also made here.

6.       Aya. Tiger nuts

7.       Nepa is now known as Power holding Ltd.

8.       Hassan da Usaini

9.       Northen Nigeria. This is a geo-political zone in Nigeria of West Africa. It was ruled by Primier Sir Ahmadu Bello. It has more that 60 million people. It has moren 200 language but the predominate one is Hausa.

10.  jeopardize

11.  Tolerance

12.  Co-existence

13.  Kosai