Christmas in Nigeria

  

 Hello Compatriots!!!


     So its that time of the year, when our streets are more colorful, despite the harmattan haze, the dry and hot air, when children secretly wear their dresses before the D-day 😉😉, that season when the food in your neighbors house tastes better (of course you cant voice that out),its the season where children become rich overnight😀😀😀. Christmas is here again!!!

But what does this Christmas mean ?????
How and why did we start celebrating it in Nigeria????



      The word Christmas is actually derived from two words Christ's Mass,  a celebration done, in memorial of the birth of Jesus.
      The birth date of Jesus is not exactly known, but according to Jewish tradition it is presumed that He was conceived during the Festival of  lights (Hanukkah) which falls between 22 December  and conceived during the festival of Tabernacles which falls between September and October though his exact day of birth would remain an historical mystery.  The date 25 December was chosen by the Western Christian Church in the 4th century and has been embraced by the world.

     Now, lets talk about the first Christmas in Nigeria and how it gave rise to the yearly celebration of Christmas in our country every-other year.


     In 1838, approximately 500 freed slaves who settled in Freetown (sierra Leone) took sail in a boat to Badagry on a trading expedition, among them was James Ferguson (surnamed after the captain of the ship) a leader of one of the trading groups, as a slave he'd been converted and had become  a Methodist faithful under the watchful eyes of his master. Having settled down in Badagry he sought for permission from the King of Badagry to invite missionaries who were based in Freetown. After he gained approval, he wrote a letter to the missionary committee in London on March  2, 1841  and on the September 23, 1841 Reverend Thomas Birch Freeman was sent from Sierra Leone as a response to Ferguson's request

Reverend Thomas Birch Freeman

He arrived in a ship called "Spy" which was berthed at Gberefu sea shore ( also known as the point of no return for captured slaves) and accompanied by two other African Missionaries, William De Graft and his wife.  the reverend preached the gospel of Christianity to the freed slaves at Asisoe Tin a day after his arrival.

William De Graft

     On the  December 25, 1842 Reverend Freeman, Reverend Henry Townsend of Church Missionaries society (CMS)  now Anglican Church of Christ, the European settlers, indigenous people of Badagry not excluding the Freed slaves who had become devoted to the faith since the arrival of Reverend Freeman in 1841, gathered at Asisoe Tin under the Agia tree where Reverend Freeman first preached the sermon on Christianity the previous year and listened to the Christmas sermon titled "The Incarnation Redeemer of Mankind".




   Celebration ofChristmas has advance with the world and so we have such things as Father Christmas (Britain) or Santa Claus(American), Christmas trees, and carols all depicting what the season is about: love of God for men, life, light, peace on earth.

    
Refrences:
african safari for Jesus
lone star internet (Christmas collection)
 tour africa mag
dr Raphael james blog