African Christmas Traditions

Christmas is a festive season enjoyed all over the world. Christmas is the festival that brings joy, happiness and joy in every person's life. The preparations of Christmas start well in advance almost in last week of November. People get busy in cleaning homes and decorating them with twigs of holly, mistletoe and wreaths. A Christmas tree is brought home and decorated with lights, tinsel and ornaments. Families have get-together with feasts and parties. Christmas has a lot of traditions associated with it. The Christmas traditions differ from one nation to other. Christmas traditions in Africa differ according to the culture.

African Christmas traditions are a mixture of old customs and modern traditions. Africans enjoy Christmas by partying with traditional African music. Christmas is in summer season in Africa. There is no snowy atmosphere but blooming flowers and sunshine. The school children have summer holidays so they enjoy Christmas a lot. These children hang stockings during night so that Santa Claus and keep gifts for them. Carols are sung with candle lights by a large group of people in various cities. Christmas tree in form of fir is decorated and gifts are kept below it to be opened on Christmas day. Pine tree branches are used for decorating homes.

In African country of Congo, on the Christmas day morning, a group of carolers sing carols and visit all the homes in the village. The people attend the Christmas mass at the church and offer gifts to Christ. Once the mass is finished, people invite each other for the traditional Christmas dinner. As it is summer season, the dinners are arranged outside the home in the open space. The Christmas dinner has delicacies lie porridge, okra soup, different type of meats, yam paste and so on. The dinner is followed by exchanging gifts and playing indoor Christmas games.

In Ghana, an African country, people celebrate Advent, which is four weeks prior to Christmas. Before Christmas, cocoa is harvested and people have enough money to buy gifts, sweets and enjoy the festivities. The churches are decorated with the evergreen palm leaves and lighted candles. The people attend church service on Christmas day in traditional dresses. Carols are sung and nativity scenes are performed in the church. In Liberia, an oil palm tree decorated with Christmas bells is used as a Christmas tree. The people enjoy carols and Christmas music in the church. The traditional meal has rice and beef in Liberia.

The traditional dinner has plum pudding and Christmas cake as a desert. All over Africa, Boxing Day that falls on December 26 is a holiday and people relax, go out for picnics, play games and enjoy with the families. Thus, attending church service, dining and enjoying are integral parts of Christmas traditions in Africa.