CHRISTMAS in Nigeria is characterised by a mass exodus of a majority of the population from the towns and cities to the villages. Many Nigerians living abroad, in such places as the United States, Canada, and Western Europe, also arrive in the country during this festive season

The towns and cities in Nigeria and indeed most parts of West Africa, such as Accra (Ghana), Yaounde (Cameroon), Banjul (The Gambia), Conakry (Guinea), and Dakar (Senegal) etc seem like ghost towns during this festive season, from a week before Christmas to just a week after the new year.

The return of the town and city dwellers to the villages is greeted with much anticipation and excitement by the villagers. They often look forward to the financial benefits and moral support from these migrants.

Nigerians who remain in the cities usually do so because they believe they haven’t quite met their goals they set out to achieve, in that they may have had inadequate financial success, or little achievement during the year that is just about to end.

A few of these Nigerians who remain in the towns and cities do so to take advantage of the mass exodus and unusually peaceful and quiet environment.

The streets are often so deserted in the towns and cities; one could walk down calmly in the middle of the road, whether day or night.

Abundance of food and drinks
In West Africa in general, as in the Caribbean, there is a great consumption of food and drinks during this festive season.

The food consumed differs from place to place in various parts of the country. However, unlike here the Caribbean, there is no noticeable consumption of pastries. In Nigeria, black, sponge, chocolate cakes and pies are hardly eaten during the Christmas season, but rather there is great consumption of assorted meats.

In the south of Nigeria for example, among the Yoruba, Ijaw, Efik, Edo Ibibio and Igbo tribes, to name a few, the main food consists of the following items:

Jellof Rice (also called Jollof Rice in some places) with boiled beans, fried plantains, and a variety of stews made of either beef, chicken, fish, snail etc

This ‘jellof rice’ is very much akin to cook-up rice, which was introduced here during the heyday of the African slave trade.

Another favourite dish at this time of year is pepper soup made of fish, goat, or beef and sometimes eaten with foo–foo, which is yams pounded to a paste in much the same way as Guyanese do with the plantain.

In the north of Nigeria, the dish ‘Tuwo’, a sort of rice pudding and stew with assorted meat, is often eaten, as is pepper soup, which is a favourite in the south.

The source of these meats listed above are often bought live from the markets of West Africa during Christmas. This is unlike here in the Caribbean where so many town dwellers and villagers buy from the supermarkets and small shops. There are sections in the public markets (both in the cities, towns) that are set apart for the sale of live animals, such as goats, cows, and chickens.

Many families normally purchase these animals live from market, tie them up securely, (as they are always trying in their various ways to escape bondage and ultimately ending up in the cooking pot), and put them in the booths of their cars or taxis.

It is a commonplace occurrence during the festive season in Nigeria, whether it’s at the markets, bus parks or other trading/ transit areas to see goats or several chickens in full flight, having escaped from their ropes or chains, and being pursued by the owner, seller or bus conductors or drivers etc.

The drinks consumed are mainly alcoholic in nature. The traditional palm wine obtained from the very tall West African palm trees (similar to the palm tree here), is a great favourite among celebrants, especially at public events. Other drinks include either imported or locally assembled brews like the Guinness Stout, Premier, Star, Club, Rock beers, and Malt drinks. Many crates of locally made soft drinks such as Coca Cola, Sprite, and Ginger Ale are bought and drunk mostly by children and women.

Unlike here in Guyana, Nigerians do not go in much for local fruit juices. Whatever juice there is, is often taken in straight from the fruit, as in the case of the orange, coconut, or cashew.

Festivals
Numerous festivals take place in the villages during the Christmas season. Some are coronation-style, as in the case of the Crowning of Chiefs and Heir to the Chief’s throne. Others have to do with traditional marriages and baby-naming ceremonies. These events must be accompanied by dancing and singing to be a success.

There are also many masquerades around the villages, and a few in the towns.

The most impressive displays are found in the villages, of course, though the town dwellers still try to put up a dancing show, which is somehow pathetic when compared to the town display

Masquerades and dancing normally go hand-in-hand in West Africa

This dancing display in Nigeria is very similar to what obtains in Guyana. It is often done right in the middle of the road in towns, and even on the expressways.

In the midst of all this festivity and dancing, there are still some cultural practices to be observed, such as the prohibiting of certain male masquerades from being seen by women, and for women passersby to close their eyes and remain still until they have departed.

Some masqueraders portray fearsome African Gods out to punish the people for their wrongdoings, and carry whips to flog at random those who they consider to have been bad for most of the year. Today, though masquerade flogging is outlawed by the government and carries a fine, in the villages and other remote areas, it is still very much alive and is still being practised.

The man on the long, high sticks
This is a typical West African masquerade, which is also found in Guyana, very likely imported by the enslaved Africans to the Caribbean. No serious masquerade troupe is complete without it in West Africa

The dancing troupes
The dancers are required to be young males and females in their teens; each gender should have a leader, who is relatively older, in the troupe.

The dancing girls are often quite attractive, and should be flat-bellied, with colourful short skirts and tight small tops. Their earrings and beads are also a colourful mix, and their hair is very attractively corn-rowed in different styles. This attire is completed with the colourful loops around their waists that are constantly swirled.

Visits from relations and friends
As mentioned before, those who migrate to the villages are those who have done well during the year that is about to end, and return either from abroad or within the country.

In light of this, these successful visitors are visited by their less fortunate relatives.

Their visitors normally expect to be given financial assistance, though not immediately, of course. In the African tradition, you must give your visitor time to settle down before making any requests. Sometimes the assistance requested by the villagers or less fortunate relatives could be of a supportive nature, for example:

To assist some young university graduate to find work in the town;

To intervene in some boundary dispute in the town or village;

To advise some rascally relative to behave more properly in the future.

Financial donations
During the Christmas season in Nigeria, financial donations are made from the more fortunate to the less fortunate, or from the higher class to the lower class.

This ‘gravitational’ flow of money is made not just in the towns, but in the cities and villages as well, but again relatively more in the villages; that is where the action is at this time.

Monetary donations during this season are even more the order of the day than the handing out of the customary attractively-wrapped gifts. These financial donations are made at private family parties, and also extend to public parties, traditional title celebrations, and native marriages, for example.

The money does not always follow the normal passing on process, as in from hand to hand, but is sometimes even pasted on the sticky forehead of the celebrant that has been dancing and wining, working up sweat.

Sometimes it is thrown on the ground at dancers in public events, in scattered disarray, by the very rich, to be scrambled for and collected by the less fortunate.

The use of money as a Christmas gift in Nigeria is so important that Banks often, because of the demand, print numerous smaller denominations of the Nigerian currency, the Naira, for easier distribution in the society.

With the approach of the new year, there is still a noticeable amount of the newly-minted smaller Naira denominations which often give the society a positive outlook for the future.