Christmas in Nigeria

Nigerians put emphasis on the holiday’s religious significance and spend it with their loved ones, cooking traditional food, attending church services, and exchanging gifts.

Christmas in Nigeria is far from boring. People sing, play traditional music, dance, participate in carnivals and parades, and spend time outdoors, enjoying the warm weather.

Christmas brings out the best of the country, combining unique Nigerian cultural heritage with customs adopted from Europeans and uniting everyone in vibrant celebrations.

Christmas Decorations in Nigeria

Like all Christians worldwide, Nigerians boost the Christmas spirit by decorating their homes, streets, and public places. The decorations differ depending on a particular family’s preferences and income.

Families with medium to high income typically put up a Christmas tree. But because evergreen coniferous trees like pines and balsam firs aren’t native to Africa, the Christmas trees are usually artificial.

Europeans who colonized Africa in the 17th century have planted some evergreen trees, but they aren’t common enough to chop them down every year. However, the wealthiest Nigerians can buy a natural Christmas tree imported from other countries.

Most Christmas decorations in Nigeria are imported from China and are relatively cheap. However, not every family can afford even the cheapest ornaments, so some Nigerians have to craft decorations from any materials they can find.

Many families drape their windows and doorways with tinsel, baubles, fairy lights, and garlands. Major streets and boulevards of Nigerian cities sparkle in myriad colorful lights.

Shopping malls, museums, and other public places set up creative displays with holiday symbols such as Santa, angels, and gift boxes.

Gift Exchange

Most Nigerian children get new clothes for Christmas to wear to the traditional feast and Midnight Mass. Although many Nigerian families nowadays can afford gadgets and expensive toys, gifting clothes is a tradition.

On Christmas Day, Nigerian kids go from house to house in their neighborhood, asking for treats, money, and other small gifts.

This tradition is similar to caroling, but Nigerian kids don’t sing. They usually use collected money to buy firecrackers.

Nigerians prefer to give their loved ones practical gifts like money, homeware, and clothes. Christmas cards aren’t a part of the Nigerian culture.

Santa Claus only arrived in Nigeria recently. Previously, local kids used to get gifts from their parents.

Nigerian Santa Claus isn’t much different from American Santa but is dressed according to the weather and doesn’t ride a sleigh but a horse.

Nigerian kids living in towns can meet with Santa and share their Christmas wishes with him in local shopping malls.

Many offices in Nigeria host the Secret Santa gift exchange, where people must buy a gift for a random colleague, and the colleague must guess who their Secret Santa is.

Church Services

On Christmas Eve, at around 10 p.m., Nigerians take on their best clothes and go to the local church to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Because Christmas in Africa isn’t as commercialized as in some European countries and the U.S. and focuses on religious aspects, the church attendance rate is very high.

The Christmas mass involves reading passages from the scripture, singing hymns to the sound of traditional instruments, and praying. The mass ends around midnight.

After the Midnight Mass, Nigerians head home to celebrate with their families, and everyone wishes each other Merry Christmas.

Nigerians speak many languages. For example, in Hausa, Merry Christmas is “barka dà Kirsìmatì, ” in Yoruba – “E ku odun, e ku iye’dun,” and in Ibibio – “Idara ukapade isua.”

Most Nigerians also attend a mass on Christmas morning despite vibrant festivities at night. After church, everyone goes home to prepare for the festive lunch.

Fireworks

Fireworks are a big deal in Nigeria at Christmas. They are sold at every corner – if you stroll through a Nigerian village during the holiday season, you’re likely to encounter at least one firework vendor within a three-minute walking distance.

Nigerians have no age restrictions regarding fireworks, so even kids can buy them. Of course, most Nigerian parents only let their children launch fireworks under supervision.

After Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, Nigerian skies light up in all rainbow colors. Many locals also launch fireworks on Christmas Day, and occasional explosions can be seen throughout the entire holiday period.

Shooting firecrackers under the feet of passers-by is known as a “Christmas knock-out” in Nigeria and is among the favorite entertainments of local children, giving them an adrenaline rush.

Village Masquerades & Music

Music is integral to Nigerian Christmas celebrations. You’re unlikely to hear Christmas hits such as Jingle Bells or White Christmas, but Nigerians have great local music. Loud music plays everywhere on the streets from Christmas Eve until Boxing Day.

In some villages, people organize festive parades, playing traditional musical instruments and singing. In other regions, Nigerians have masquerades where they dance in traditional regalia, visit local houses, and perform in exchange for gifts.

In Calabar, a region in southeastern Nigeria, wandering groups in colorful folk attires perform nativity plays.

Nigerians typically make masquerade masks themselves or hide their faces under heavy artistic makeup. Some Nigerians compete for the best costume and performance.

The tradition of Christmas masquerades in Nigeria is slowly dying out as more and more people insist that celebrations should be focused on religious aspects of the holiday. Still, it remains widespread in remote villages.

Family Holiday

Christmas in West Africa is focused on family gatherings, so Nigerian towns become empty during holidays as locals who’ve moved to urban areas return to their ancestral villages. No matter where Nigerians live, they must be home for Christmas.

Nigerian Christmas festivities aren’t limited to the immediate family as in many European countries. Nigerians are very hospitable and outgoing, so they welcome the entire extended family and, sometimes, neighbors.

Cooking for so many people is challenging, so on Christmas morning, all women of the family gather to cook together. Kitchens of Nigerian homes are typically crowded on Christmas Day, but a lack of space doesn’t mean a lack of fun.

Men don’t usually cook in Nigeria unless the family gathers for a barbecue. Then, the male head of the house is proclaimed the “Braai master” and is responsible for the cooking. No one can touch the grill except for the Braai master.

Summer Activities

Christmas in Nigeria is celebrated in summer. Christmas festivities in hot weather may be difficult to imagine for people living in the Northern Hemisphere, but the ability to spend holidays outdoors bonding with nature makes up for the lack of snow.

Nigerians don’t spend Christmas sitting at home near the fireplace, watching Christmas movies. Most locals prefer to head out to amusement parks, fairs, street carnivals, or concerts.

Some Nigerians spend their Christmas holidays on the beach, riding horses, swimming, tanning, and playing active games. Traffic often goes out of control in Nigeria at Christmas time as many locals go on car trips.

Nigerian children love to spend Christmas Day playing football. Instead of a formal dinner on Christmas Eve, Nigerians usually have a laid-back Christmas Day barbecue because why waste a chance to soak in the sun?

Christmas Food in Nigeria

Nigerian Christmas feast is always abundant, so locals try not to eat much on Christmas Eve to leave more space in their stomachs for Christmas Day.

The main dish is usually Nigerian party jollof rice, made with tomatoes, tomato paste, pimento peppers, scotch bonnet, onions, and spice mix. Some families add meat to the dish to make it more filling.

Coconut rice is visually similar to jollof rice but has an unusual coconut flavor. Nigerian cuisine involves a lot of rice dishes.

Fish cooked whole in the oven in tomato paste marinade is another traditional Nigerian Christmas dish. In some regions, people serve dodo gizzards, a dish from meat and plantains flavored with tomato paste, onions, hot peppers, garlic, and spices.

Almost all meat dishes are served with a traditional Nigerian salad from beans, mixed vegetables, hard-boiled eggs, and mayo. Many Nigerians make mayo at home instead of buying it.

Nigerians in coastal regions typically cook seafood, such as spinach and shrimp stir-fry. Deep-fried dough balls known as chin-chin are real crowd-pleasers.

Another delicious Nigerian snack is individual-serving meat and vegetable pies shaped like crescent moons. Nigerian Christmas cake is similar to British Christmas pudding, which isn’t surprising given that the country was once a British colony.

However, Nigerian Christmas cake is lighter in texture and shaped like a loaf. It’s often covered in liquid chocolate.

Another Nigerian Christmas dessert is a rich, dense butter cake with coconut or vanilla flavor. Banana cake with caster sugar and vanilla extract is simple yet delicious, favored by all local kids.

Most Nigerians drink palm wine for Christmas. Locals who don’t drink alcohol prefer Zobo, a traditional beverage made from Zobo plant leaves, pineapple, cloves, ginger, and honey.

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