Many of us will not travel abroad or be lucky enough to spend at least one Christmas in another country in our lifetime. Thankfully modern technology such as the internet enables us to get a glimpse of how Christmas is celebrated in other parts of the world.
These are just a few of the many ways people in countries further north up in Africa celebrate Christmas in their own special way.
Preparation for Christmas in the Congo begins when a group of people is designated to prepare the annual Christmas pageant.
Christmas day begins with groups of carol singers walking to and fro through the village, along the roadway, past the houses of the missionaries, singing carols known the world around. Often people may be awakened by a group of carol singers as they converge on the house of worship. They then return home to make final preparation to the clothes one must wear to the Christmas service.
The most important part of their Christmas worship service is the love offering, this is the gift in honour of Jesus. Then at about 8 or 9 o’clock everyone makes their way to the celebration of the birthday of Jesus.
Everyone who attends the service goes forward to lay down their gift upon the raised platform near the Communion table. Not one person will attend the service without giving a gift.
People then have Christmas dinners after the service, preparing tables out in front of their home and inviting many of their intimate friends to share.
In Ghana, on Africa’s west coast, most churches herald the coming of Christmas by decorating the church and homes beginning with the first week in Advent, four weeks before Christmas.
This season coincides with the cocoa harvest, and is a time of wealth. Everyone returns home from farms and mines.
On Christmas eve, children march up and down the streets singing Christmas Carols and shouting “Christ is coming, Christ is coming! He is near!” in their language.
In the evening, people flock to churches that have been decorated with Christmas evergreens or palm trees adorned with candles. Hymns are sung and Nativity plays are presented.
On Christmas Day, children and older people, representing the angels in the fields outside Bethlehem, go from house to house singing. Another church service is held where they dress in their native attire or Western costumes.
Later on there is a feast of rice and yam paste called fufu with stew or okra soup, porridge and meats. Families eat together or with close neighbours, and presents are exchanged.
On the west coast of Africa, in Liberia, most homes have an oil palm for a Christmas tree, which is decorated with bells. On Christmas morning, people are woken up by carols. Presents such as cotton cloth, soap, sweets, pencils, and books are exchanged. Also in the morning a church service is held in which the Christmas scene is enacted and hymns and carols are sung.
Dinner is eaten outdoors with everyone sitting in a circle to share the meal of rice, beef and biscuits. Games are played in the afternoon, and at night fireworks light up the sky.
