My family has never really been one to celebrate Christmas. My dad allows us to hangout at our friends place during the festive seasons (no sleepovers, we just go, spend time there doing whatever we do and then come back home before dark) but we never celebrated Christmas at home and the main reason for that being that Christmas isn't exactly in the bible (let's leave that argument for another day) and my dad being a dedicated Christian refused to celebrate it.
But we surprisingly during that time, had three traditions that he always made sure to do (with us) during that period every year and for me at that young age (this was a long time ago) it was a boring one (at least one of it was). My dad always made it a habit to watch this particular church program at night during the 31st night of December, so New year's eve.
And it wasn't a bad thing but I was really young at the time so every church program on the television was boring to me, but unfortunately, my dad didn't care. He would make all of us sit in the living room and watch that program from beginning to the end (it always starts at 11:00pm till 00:00am on the 1st of December).
And then just as the program is coming to an end, we would move on to the next thing on the list which also happens to be my favorite. My dad always loves to buy this particular kind of firework, the kind where you kinda stick it in the ground and then lit the bottom of the firework and after some few seconds of it burning up, it shoots up in the sky and explodes.
So every 31st night of December it's church program and then fireworks in the sky. Although ever since we left our previous area, both of these traditions are no longer a thing now. For some reason my dad stopped watching that particular minister of God and getting fireworks at our new location is a little hard these days.
But if there's one thing that isn't going away anytime soon, it's the third thing on the list, the fasting and prayer. That's the one tradition every one of us would be carrying to our graves because I'm sure my dad would make sure of that. So basically we do this prayer and fasting as a family every December towards the end of the month. It's a prayers to sort of speak good things into our lives for the coming year and also to pray against bad things.
My dad always makes sure everyone in the family does this prayer, no matter where you are in the world. As long as you have his last name, you're participating in that prayer and it's a good thing. It can be a very long prayer when you're at home with everyone else but it's a good thing nevertheless.
So yeah, I guess that is the one December tradition in my family that isn't going away anytime soon.
Praying is soo important, During New Year Eve too, just like my family too, We Go to Crossover Night and Pray so much for a Very prosperous new Year and also against every Evil
Yeah I think that's one thing most Christian Nigerian prayers have in common, the new year's eve prayer.
Nice, man, I liked it. Even though he doesn't do some of these things anymore, it left a mark on you. Some traditions are very important because they imprint our memories, and one day, these will be wonderful moments that can only be remembered. Reading this, I see that I should make more effort to create something that can be a tradition in my family and pass down these memories to the kids around here!
Feels good to know this writeup is somehow making you want to do things.. And yeah, just like you said, all of these traditions has left really sweet memories for myself and my siblings and I personally plan on doing the same when I have kids.
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Thank you.
@prayzz you're most welcome
So many tradition in your home. Your family don't celebrate Christmas which was unexpected for me. Fasting is the thing which many people try to avoid. That means you are fasting now. Right??
Not yet, we fast towards the end of the month and then end it on new year's eve.
That’s great and I think that is one thing that Nigerians do
Most Nigerians make sure that they visit the church or mosque for crossover night
It is very important ooh
Yea you're right.. No one jokes with the crossover service 😅