Several people have been asking me how people celebrate Christmas here, and since I woke up at 4:15h thanks to the call for prayer from some mosque (my god, you have to be a really early bird to be a good Muslim!) and am therefore awake at too early an hour, I’d decided to get my computer out and write you another blog.
Like all holidays (Ramadan, Tabaski, etc.), people will celebrate it by visiting friends, neighbours, family and acquaintances. Of course, food is very important, and has to come in large quantities, like in the Western world. Christian people will go to church at Christmas eve, also just like in Europe. However, after church, they don’t necessarily go home to drink one last hot cocoa before going to bed, while staring into the lights of the Christmas tree. Instead, they might very well go to a nightclub and dance the night away. Sounds like a plan to me.
People don’t attach as much importance to Christmas as they do in the West. That’s probably because it’s a mixed culture of Muslims and Christians. And of course, in the West, we attach far too much importance to it, starting the festive ‘season’ at least one month before the actual Christmas day.
It is visible in the streets though, the fact that ‘holidays are coming’, as Coca Cola Company like to put it. Street sellers are now selling Christmas trees and decorations. I was amazed to see a Christmas tree walk by the other day, before I discovered two eyes of the street seller who had put the tree on it’s shoulder blinking from between its plastic branches. Christmas stalls too are being pushed or pulled around on donkey cars. All glitter and kitsch, just the way they like it here. Also, the main road through the center of Ouaga is decorated with Christmas lights. But somehow, it’s just not the same when you cycle past them after sitting on a streetside table until two in the morning in your sleeveless top.
Well, it’s time to get ready to go to work. It’s a rather cool morning today. We have just been having another hot week. Normally, it’s not that warm in December, but these past days, we’ve been having the good old 35+degrees temperatures. At the heat of the day, the sun will burn so bright and spread so much light, that colours fade and the world seems to be all white. A white Christmas after all.
Like all holidays (Ramadan, Tabaski, etc.), people will celebrate it by visiting friends, neighbours, family and acquaintances. Of course, food is very important, and has to come in large quantities, like in the Western world. Christian people will go to church at Christmas eve, also just like in Europe. However, after church, they don’t necessarily go home to drink one last hot cocoa before going to bed, while staring into the lights of the Christmas tree. Instead, they might very well go to a nightclub and dance the night away. Sounds like a plan to me.
People don’t attach as much importance to Christmas as they do in the West. That’s probably because it’s a mixed culture of Muslims and Christians. And of course, in the West, we attach far too much importance to it, starting the festive ‘season’ at least one month before the actual Christmas day.
It is visible in the streets though, the fact that ‘holidays are coming’, as Coca Cola Company like to put it. Street sellers are now selling Christmas trees and decorations. I was amazed to see a Christmas tree walk by the other day, before I discovered two eyes of the street seller who had put the tree on it’s shoulder blinking from between its plastic branches. Christmas stalls too are being pushed or pulled around on donkey cars. All glitter and kitsch, just the way they like it here. Also, the main road through the center of Ouaga is decorated with Christmas lights. But somehow, it’s just not the same when you cycle past them after sitting on a streetside table until two in the morning in your sleeveless top.
Well, it’s time to get ready to go to work. It’s a rather cool morning today. We have just been having another hot week. Normally, it’s not that warm in December, but these past days, we’ve been having the good old 35+degrees temperatures. At the heat of the day, the sun will burn so bright and spread so much light, that colours fade and the world seems to be all white. A white Christmas after all.
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BeantwoordenVerwijderenI invite you to view my: http://www.devaneiosdevida.blogspot.com/In it you will know a l small country, very old but with good people, good food and beautiful landscapes: Portugal. I write and I speak a little English, Spanish, French, Italian and Portuguese-This one interesting for language learning, but you can make comments in English
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