As 2023 draws to a close, Nigerians eagerly anticipate the arrival of the New Year, a time marked by festivities, reflection, and the promise of fresh beginnings.
While many people think that only Christians celebrate Christmas because it is the birth of Jesus Christ, almost everyone believes that New Year celebrations is for people of all faiths and religious creeds – because it is a celebration of life and survival unto a new year.
Christians, Muslims, Hinduists, Buddhists, Taoists, idol worshippers, and atheists or agnostics all celebrate New Year, even though the form and manner of celebrations differ from religion to religion, culture to culture, and country to country.
Sometimes, Christmas celebrations extend into New Year festivities and this makes it all the more fun. But the bottom-line is that it is a period of merrymaking and gratitude for being alive to witness a new year.
New Year celebrations in Nigeria
In Nigeria and in most Africa nations, people travel from the cities back to their villages to celebrate New Year with grandparents and older relatives. Celebrating Christmas and New Year in villages with one’s extended families and folks is an African thing, and this involves a lot of preparations, spending and renovations.
During New Year celebrations, youths fire firecrackers or “bangers” in the spirit of celebrations, and many youths in several regions organize carnival parties that last all day and night long. The carnivals take the form of street parades and colour processions to parties and music and orgies – starting from New Year Eve till daybreak.
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Both Christmas and New Year celebrations are largely characterized by food in almost all African societies. Families kills goats, sheep, ram, chicken and turkey to make the best of pounded yam, jollof rice, fried rice, vegetable salad, local soups and all types of delicacies. And there is free flow of beer, palm wine, exotic wines, locally brewed drinks, and fruit juices among others.
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