By Emmanuel F. Sanosi
Gone are those days when children used to babble excitedly in schools, each bragging about the special Christmas outfit he or she has been bought. From the look of things nowadays, there are no concrete guarantees of a return to the 'good old days', when kids hardly slept on Christmas Eve.
Today, many of them have joined their parents as they could all be seen moving around with harried expressions and worry-lines on their faces.
Although Christmas is a religious feast, it has, over the years, become the most awaited day of the year as just about everybody- the young and the old, Christians and non-Christians, come out to celebrate it as one of the most significant events in the history of mankind.
Many argue that because of its importance Christmas is that one day of the year that everybody should make merry and be happy. They believe happiness should manifest itself through eating special dishes and putting on new clothes. But all these things require money, which unfortunately, has become a very rare commodity in today's society.
Not only are many parents still battling to complete their children's school fees, most of them say they cannot afford any 'unnecessary' expenses in buying new clothes for their children; when they have not yet found the money to complete fees and to purchase other school requirements.
So are they just going to cross their fingers and wish Christmas a speedy passage? Not at all! Parents do not only see Christmas as a religious feast. Many say it comes with a moral debt for each parent. If your parents decked you out in the best clothes on Christmas day, there is no excuse whatsoever not to repay that obligation to your own children. Whether the economy has gone down the drain or not, Christmas will always remain Christmas.
As result of economic hardship, many parents and guardians have devised strategies to cope with the financial pressures during the second half of the year. Most meeting houses usually begin a new phase in January and people start saving money in anticipation of a new school year. These savings are usually shared out in August so that parents can prepare their children for the new school year.
After that, new savings begin in preparation for Christmas. A majority of savings usually run throughout the year, coming to an end in early to mid December. It is now a common sight for a group of women to meet and share the 'spoils' of their yearly savings. Palm oil, beef, cash and many other household items that make Christmas a day to remember, at least on the part of the children, are shared out.
About 20 years ago, by the first week of November, the main streets of Bamenda were almost a health hazard to people with sensitive ears, as loud speakers blared out Christmas Carols while many more advertised the latest children's outfits. The atmosphere itself exhibited a subtle change as the world took first notice of the advent of this unique feast. People were overheard making fantastic plans in anticipation of Christmas, though it was still months away. Nowadays, many people have simply resigned themselves to time, dreading the Christmas expenses, but knowing that they cannot simply be brushed aside.
If there is one thing that makes most people bitter and quarrelsome, it is a situation in which they have too many things to do with too little money. So many parents have suddenly become terrors in their homes as they strain to meet up with all their financial obligations. Most children report that at home they have now learned to be extra careful when papa is at home, because "he no longer tolerates the slightest truancy…" Such fathers are simply venting out the frustrations accumulated from financial pressures.
During such hard times, some husbands transform their wives into punching bags as they struggle to subdue nagging and belligerent wives screaming for money to prepare for Christmas.
It can be estimated that not up to 15 percent of households in Bamenda have made any significant preparations against Christmas. Some people will only have the means at the last hour. In the last several years, testimony of this has been the unusually crowded markets on December 23 and 24, as most people rush to make last minute purchases for their families.
While this is going on, Christians do not ignore the spiritual dimension of the feast. Many Catholic women say that "Christmas is the time for forgiveness and reconciliation. A time to cleanse one's heart of every evil thought…" To this effect, all parishes organise daily confession sessions after morning Mass. Just before Christmas each parish also schedules a final day to hear confessions.
At St John Church Foncha Street the final confession session will take place on December 18, at St Paul on the 19th and Bayelle Main Mission on the 20th. Other parishes in Bamenda Archdiocese have established their respective confession sessions in preparation for Christmas.
In a nutshell, Christmas preparations in Bamenda in general are yet to pick up speed. Life still goes on as if Christmas were a distance. The usual echoes of Christmas Carols have not yet taken over the streets. Although the markets are sparkling with all sorts of colours of new attires, buyers are only just trickling. Many of them are simply window-shopping.
In the neighbourhoods many children do not yet know what their parents will buy for them this Christmas, and thankfully so, because as soon as their parents shall exhibit their Christmas wears, it will become practically impossible for adults to hold a conversation due to the screeching excitement that kids normally exhibit as they compare outfits, with each tying to convince the other of the supremacy of his or her outfit.
Comments