Kenyan Chronicles: Christmas is Coming

Having only been in the UK for the build-up to Christmas once in the last 9 years, it’s hard to imagine all the commercial hype that there is there surrounding Christmas. Whilst shopping centres have been decorated with trees, festooned with lights, and each has its own Santa’s grotto, there is no (or very little) Christmas merchandise as such in the shops. Christmas decorations are generally in the supermarket all year round, so that’s just as normal! (Last year, I remember that Christmas confectionery seemed to arrive in January! Probably what was left over from Europe!)
The traffic has been awful in the last few weeks. Now, I guess that that might be people Christmas shopping, though it’s been during the week as much as anything. More likely, it’s been due to the school and university graduations that were taking place.
The shopping centre that I go to has been full, though that seems to have been more with young Kenyans who see it as a place to hang out, rather than to shop.

Commercialism around Christmas has increased here though, even in the time that I’ve been in Kenya. Various adverts that you see in the paper or on billboards associate Christmas with shopping.

Part of Ngong Road Racecourse Craft Fair

My baobab tree

What we’ve had a lot of this year have been Christmas craft fairs. There seems to have been at least one each weekend for the last 4 weeks. ‘Christmas’ craft fair perhaps suggests that everything there is Christmassy, which is not the case, though you can purchase handmade Christmas cards, nativity scenes, tree ornaments, trees fashioned out of wire, baobab trees made out of banana leaves for hanging ornaments on (I treated myself to one of these this year). Most of the stalls are taken up with people whose wares are year-round – jewelry, glassware, hand-painted crockery, figures from wire, basketwork, cheese, chutneys,…….. I went to two of these this year. The first, Bizarre Bazaar, was the smaller of the two. Unfortunately, the heavens opened 10 minutes after I got there. The stalls themselves are tents, all lined up and the only way to get between them all is out in the open. I figured that I might as well continue going around. Despite my umbrella, I got pretty wet, and it was only later that I discovered that the back of my trousers were absolutely covered in mud. Hence, having not really done so well at that one, I went the following week with a friend to the Ngong Road Racecourse Craft Fair, which is far bigger. It was already very muddy in places, though strategically placed rocks and straw were helping some. I came away relatively unscathed, probably because it didn’t rain while I was there. That Craft Fair has apparently been going for 35 years, and is quite a meeting place for white Kenyans who live upcountry. All of these craft fairs remain somewhat the preserve of white Kenyans and ex-pats it seems, though with an increasing middle class, perhaps there’ll be more Kenyans there in years to come? Or is the whole idea something very Western perhaps?

Last weekend, was the Nairobi Music Society Christmas concerts, which I was playing in. On Thursday, our monthly prayer meeting at work featured a number of carols. Friday evening, I was at a friend’s house with a number of other musos and we had a carol sing there (as well as some delicious desserts). At church yesterday, we had a great nativity play with all the children involved as shepherds, angels, animals, stars, ….. plus of course the central characters (though I’m told that Baby Jesus was missing from the manger in the first service!). And this Wednesday, we’re having our annual carol sing at Karen Blixen Museum, where we gather for picnics under the stars, and as the sun goes down, light candles and sing carols, all against the backdrop of the Ngong Hills.

So, Christmas is definitely coming. As are my parents – just 24 hours from now! Here to experience a very different kind of Christmas – it’ll be warm for starters!

To anyone reading this – a very Happy Christmas!