Hello and welcome to The Long Wave. This week, we look forward to Christmas as experienced by our correspondents and colleagues from within the diaspora. I am a glutton for the season, even though I don’t celebrate it. And so I am happy to hand over to my colleagues whose reflections and memories are a big dose of poignant seasonal cheer. But first, the weekly roundup.
Weekly roundup
Jamaica moves to oust monarchy | The Jamaican government has presented a bill in parliament to abolish the constitutional monarchy and transition the country to a republic. This follows the independence of four former Caribbean colonies: Barbados, Dominica, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago.
Man jailed for murder of Kenyan LGBTQ+ activist | Jacktone Odhiambo, who was found guilty of killing the LGBTQ+ activist Edwin Chiloba in January 2023, has been sentenced to 50 years in prison. Though the case drew global attention to gay rights in Kenya, police ruled out the possibility the killing was a hate crime.
Walmart’s diversity rollback | Last month Walmart announced that it would drop all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives and not act on promises to address business inequities after the murder of George Floyd. The US workers’ group United for Respect is now redoubling efforts to introduce a racial equity shareholder proposal.
Ghana’s Year of Return woes | The success of the outgoing Ghanaian president Nana Akufo-Addo’s call to action for Black diaspora groups to visit Africa has led to mixed outcomes for the continent, with some suggesting the increase in tourism has created segregation and driven up costs for locals. Several service providers have since set their prices in dollars rather than Ghanaian cedis.
Togo’s architectural battleground | Uncompleted or abandoned buildings are commonplace in Togo, but while the authorities have earmarked buildings such as the abandoned Hôtel de la Paix in Lomé for demolition, architects are calling for them to be restored, citing the successful restoration of the Palais de Lomé as evidence of its feasibility.
In depth: Season’s greetings from our writers around the world
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‘The undisputed superstar was fried rice’
There is a near consensus across parts of west Africa that today’s Christmases are a shadow of what they used to be. In a region full of flamboyant characters and where people find any excuse to party, Christmas presented the best reason to do so, regardless of your religion or social standing. In the 1990s and 2000s, Christmas was a movie, especially in small Nigerian towns, and the stars were children in working-class and middle-class households.
Nigerians love to put small canopies in the street when there’s a celebration, and on Christmas Eve these were everywhere, with cheap banners by the community association announcing the carnivals, as if the loud music and empty or full crates of beer and malt weren’t enough announcement. Nearby, children would be flying kites with new hairdos or clean cuts, singing “Today na watchi-night”, referencing the Pidgin term for an eve.
After short church services on Christmas morning at which people sang carols, it was common to see children wearing colourful plastic sunglasses and new outfits so bright they lit up rooms, going from house to house of neighbours, friends and relatives to eat an array of meals. The undisputed superstar was fried rice, a greenish-yellow dish that in its heyday used to contain small pieces of beef liver, curry powder and green peas – always accompanied by hearty portions of creamy coleslaw. A film, such as Home Alone and its sequels, would be on repeat all day on TV.
Parents changed higher denomination notes into smaller ones so that kids would come out of the houses with money gifts to put into small piggy boxes called kolo to fund one of their new year resolutions or simply buy candy and ice-cream. The competition for cash gifts was fierce.
But that was decades ago. Several factors have decimated that culture, including a cost-of-living crisis, declining communal trust and mass migration to the cities and overseas. Beef liver – and this is incredibly painful – has all but disappeared from fried rice, and coleslaw culture has gone cold. Children now mostly curl up on couches to watch TV, if there is electricity. Money gifts? Even adults would kill for that these days. Eromo Egbejule West Africa correspondent
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‘Christmas is the aroma of freshly baked bread and cocoa’
I was eight years old when we got a television. We were among the first in my village on the Caribbean island of St Vincent and the Grenadines to get one. Before that, the concept of Santa Claus, red-and-white stockings hanging from chimneys and pine trees, laden with shiny baubles and twinkling lights, was as foreign to me as the rest of the strange and wonderful world that our little black box introduced to me.
Back then, Christmas was the early-morning street festival we call Nine Mornings; it was waking up in new bed sheets, the sun gleaming through colourful curtains my mom had sewn the week before. It was the aroma of freshly baked bread and the cocoa, ground by our neighbour Miss Thomas, boiling in a pot with milk, cinnamon bush and bay leaves. And, of course, it was the salty-sweet delight of the ham that my mother had boiled and dressed to perfection.
It was ignoring the doll still in its packaging to play hide-and-seek with my cousins; it was seeing people I hadn’t seen since last Christmas – those who come every year to get a slice of my mom’s famous, rum-soaked black cake and sorrel juice.
It’s been too many years since I spent Christmas back home. Today, I try to recreate as much of it as I can for my children. Christmas is still very special and is always a time for family and joy. But if you ask me what the festive season means to me, I immediately recall those Christmases in SVG. Natricia Duncan Caribbean correspondent
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‘Family members descend to our ancestral lands’
Like most deep southern families, many of my aunts and uncles, cousins and other extended family members participated in the great migration, during which an estimated 6 million Black Americans moved from the south to the north, west and midwest. During Christmastime, those family members descend to our ancestral lands in south Mississippi, where my family has lived for at least six generations. The kitchen is full and hot, as we bustle around, baking cakes and pies; making chicken and dumplings, dressing and collard greens; catching up and chatting.
Music, primarily classic Motown Christmas tunes and gospel, is loud enough to be heard but not too loud to drown out the chatter. As family members age – some have died, while others have moved across the state, country and world – these traditions change slightly; sometimes, instead of gathering in one place, we gather in groups spread across the state and country. But we’ve found a new way to stay connected: no one is more than a phone call or FaceTime away. Adria R Walker US race and equity reporter
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‘Some men from the family will slaughter and roast a sheep’
My family and I will celebrate Christmas with our extended family – including aunts, uncles and cousins – at our ancestral home in Nyeri, central Kenya. It’ll be a long day that will start with food preparation for nearly 50 people early in the morning. Some men from the family will slaughter and roast a sheep while a catering team will prepare fruit, beef and side dishes such as rice, chapati and mũkimo, a Kikuyu staple made by mashing potatoes, maize, beans and pumpkin leaves.
We’ll have the meal in the afternoon, followed by prayers, speeches, songs and introductions, before winding down in the evening with music, more food, and drinks – including mũratina, a Kikuyu cultural wine made by fermenting a mixture of honey, water and the boiled and dried fruit of sausage trees – over a bonfire. Carlos Mureithi East Africa correspondent
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‘Lots of music, dancing, food and drinks’
My festive celebrations have always started on Christmas Eve. First, my mother, father, sister and I would visit my paternal grandmother’s house. She liked us to say the Lord’s Prayer – like most Brazilians, I was raised Catholic, though evangelical churches have been growing rapidly and could soon become the majority – and then sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus. We would head to my maternal grandmother’s house close to midnight for a much bigger party (my mum has several siblings, so I have plenty of cousins).
The celebration would last into the early hours, with lots of music, dancing, food and drinks, ranging from juices and soft drinks to beer and wine. On the 25th, many of us still nursing hangovers, we would return to my maternal grandmother’s house for more drinks and the leftovers from the night before – roasted turkey, cured ham, pork shoulder, and farofa, a Brazilian side dish made from manioc (cassava) flour mixed with spices and proteins such as eggs or bacon, or banana for vegetarians. Tiago Rogero South America correspondent
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‘A full house of neighbours and friends enjoying rum punch’
I always loved spending Christmas in Trinidad and Tobago with my maternal family; it really gave the country a chance to show off its best side. First, everyone knows Trinis love to party. Second, the holidays embody the eclectic mix of traditions, cuisines and culture that make up the islands. I’ve got amazing memories of the fun and warmth brought by parranderos – groups of singers and musicians who travel from house to house playing parang music. This Spanish Creole tradition has also given root to Indian-inspired chutney parang and Latin parang. And of course, immediately after Christmas, the countdown to carnival – T&T’s main event – starts, with the radio blasting out that year’s soca.
Food is also a cultural blend, and growing up in my English-Trini household, we always had the best of both worlds. Christmas morning was a full house of neighbours and friends enjoying rum punch and buljol– a delicious saltfish salad – served with focaccia, followed by a full English roast dinner with an excessive selection of meat as well as all the Trini sides: callaloo, fried rice, macaroni pie, stewed pigeon peas and plantain. These days, it’s a little pared down, and even if there’s no pork on the table, it’s not Christmas until I’ve heard this classic at least once. Maya Wolfe-Robinson Editorial lead, Legacies of Enslavement
