New Year & Christmas the African Way
Visitors gather at a Christmas light fair at the Abraham Kriel Children’s home in Potchefstroom, on December 22, 2022.
As the world celebrates the holidays, Sputnik has looked for some unique New Year and Christmas traditions in Africa.There is much to say about New Year in Africa – in different seasons Africans in various countries celebrate traditional New Year festivals, such as Enkutatash in Ethiopia (in September) or Mwaka Kogwa on Zanzibar (in July or August). As for the approaching Gregorian New Year, there are still remarkable African ways to spend the holiday. Most Africans who celebrate the holiday attend church masses or late night parties. In a unique manner, the Sudanese celebrate the New Year and their country’s Independence Day on the same day. Africa is also known for several popular New Year festivals, such as the Vic Falls Carnival in Zimbabwe, which takes place against the backdrop of Victoria Falls, one of the world’s tallest waterfalls, or the New Year’s Eve Concert at the Kirstenbosch National Botanical Gardens in Cape Town, where one can enjoy the sight of the region’s uniquely rich flora.
South Africa also has a number of peculiar New Year traditions – such as throwing old furniture and/or appliances out of windows. Although a vivid symbol of transition from old to new, the custom has been suppressed by the police, as the furniture risks injuring passersby.
Music enjoyers in the country vote on the year’s top 10 tracks before 31 December, and when number one is chosen, radio stations broadcast it at the same time.South Africa also has a custom of celebrating the so-called “Second New Year” on January 2 – this can be traced back to the times of slavery, when slaves were granted a day off on the second day of the year. On that day, they had lively celebrations in contrast with their otherwise oppressed lifestyle. With time, these festivals evolved into popular events involving brass bands in Cape Town.
AfricaKwanzaa: A Feast Celebrating African Roots, Heritage & Culture26 December, 12:01 GMTAfrikaners, who form a majority of South Africans of European descent, created a tradition called braai – a distinctly South African version of outdoor barbequing. Although South Africans have braai all year round, the New Year and Christmas ones are certainly special.As for Christmas, this holiday is also marked by unique customs in Africa. Kenyans, for instance, have goat or beef meat called nyama choma (quite similar to braai) with kachumbari, an assorted vegetable salad. On Christmas Eve, Tanzanians slaughter a goat or a cow that they acquire at the beginning of the year to fatten it. Liberia has its own Christmas character known as Old Man Bayka, who, unlike Santa Claus, asks for presents instead of giving them. Zimbabweans tend to use ivy, an evergreen wide-leaved climbing plant, to decorate rooms on Christmas. In Gambia, a mostly Muslim country, Christmas is nevertheless widely celebrated with festivals of fanals – large boat-shaped lanterns made of paper and bamboo.If one Christmas is not enough for you, you should keep in mind that Ethiopia and Egypt are African countries where people celebrate the birth of Jesus on January 7 (which originates from the use of the Julian calendar) – the same way Russians do.
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