Christmas Time

It was strange for us celebrating Christmas here in the sunshine and the heat.  Unlike Scotland there is no build up to Christmas.  There is only one big new store, Shoprite, which has the Christmas music playing and artificial Christmas trees on sale.  We were lucky to buy one of the trees and a few decorations.  I also bought some crepe paper to make decorations for the house and for the children to make for their Christmas party.

We attended Mass on Christmas Eve at 8p.m.  It only lasted 2 and a half hours.  There was a great carnival atmosphere in the Church.  Decorations, banners and fairy lights were hanging across the Church.  People were dancing and singing to sound of the drums beating.  There was stable created from banana leaves and tree branches, large enough for people to go inside.  However, a newborn baby was not found so nativity figures were put inside. When the birth of baby Jesus was announced, the altar boys rang round and round the Church ringing the bells and the bellringer rang the steeple bells.

After Mass everyone wished each other “Chaka chiwemi cha Christmas”…..  “Happy Christmas”.