The joy of Christmas

Christmas is always the climax for December. The time for celebration, different people in different places travel home to see their relations and visit their hometown.

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It's the time when our Lord Jesus Christ was given birth to which is the highlight of the event. As the preparation continues business upscale is on the high as business men and women take advantage of increasing the price of their products and wares making things expensive during those periods. There are so many preparations to be made. Some come home for the celebration of Christmas while others stay back. I'm part of those that stay back. There are other preparations like weddings, ebiri (age grade ceremony) during the Christmas period. For me and my family. The preparation starts by October. We usually buy chicken for a lesser amount and brood them from October to December when it will be slaughtered as the cost of fowls will be on the high side.

There are lots of expenses to be made, usually from buying Christmas clothes and shoes to foodstuffs. Then when I was a child I usually got excited whenever my mother goes to the market to get Christmas clothes for me and my siblings and usually given to us on the 25th morning that we would wear to church. It's fun to show off your latest dress and shoe entangled with the toy gun and other toys.

In my hometown, which is mbaise, we usually have his ceremony during Christmas that everyone looks forward to. It's called "Erigwara" . It starts from the 24th of December and ends on the 5th of January. Different villages are given days to celebrate their Christmas. There will be different dishes prepared and served to relatives, friends and well-wishers. That is the climax of us coming home for Christmas as everyone anticipated for it. Having friends and well-wishers scattered, there is no dull moment as we visit each and everyone of them during the time their villages will host their Christmas celebration. If it's my village's turn to celebrate, the Erigwara dancing crew will go house to house to entertain people with their music and dancers. On the eve of that day masquerade usually comes out. The most exciting event I have witnessed is the ebiri celebration (age grade celebration) . The family hosts the event and the event climax is when the first son carries the cow head on his head and dances around with the other members of the family following suit. It ends with merriment with lots of food and drinks.

Presently it is steaming hard to travel with what each year possesses. During the covid-19 pandemic, it was tough but I was a survivor. Ever since that year I haven't stepped foot in my hometown. Things were extremely difficult, we now celebrate it every year in town. But notwithstanding as the Christmas approached there were expenses made, especially getting food stuffs for the house with drinks and brooding of chicken for slaughter on the 25th. If some neighbors don't travel, we will visit and spend some time with them.
Thank you for reading!