Unmasking The Dark Side Of One Holiday Tradition.

Many of us have been here for a while and we have experienced lots of Holiday traditions, both the great ones and those that get on our nerves always. Some of these traditions are so annoying that once the holiday is approaching, the thought of them can ruin the holiday even before its arrival. Many of them started even before we were born, and I honestly do not know what people derive from them because some of these things just don't make any sense to me.

There is a huge difference between celebrating the holiday as a kid and as an adult because the reality of these holidays dawned on me as an adult. During our childhood days, everything we worried about was food, new dresses and visiting friends/family but it's a whole different story as an adult and I appreciate our parents for doing everything within their might to ensure that their kids enjoy the holiday.

When you ask people what Christmas means to them, they are quick to say that it is the season of love and happiness, they will tell you it's a season to put smiles on people's faces and spread love but everything they do throughout the holiday is purely opposite.

I don't know what things look like during Christmas in other countries but here in Nigeria, there are lots of holiday traditions I would love to eradicate or change people's mentality about. I am certain that it all started with one person and wished someone had condemned many of these traditions back then, hopefully, things wouldn't look like what they are today.

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I have lived in the different parts of Lagos Mainland and one of the holiday traditions I observe is how people are being extorted once the holiday is approaching. A few days before Christmas, I had to run an errand for my mom. I spent more than twice the usual bus fare which is very annoying because it's not like I earn extra during the holiday or get free money and when you challenge the masterminds of these acts, they will blame the holiday.

Holiday's fault, how?

Sometimes, I wonder if these extortionists don't know how their greed affects everyone because once transportation becomes an issue, a whole lot of things get affected.

People have to spend double just to enjoy the holiday and some people just let the holiday pass because they can't afford what the prices of things are out there.

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_{Image was captured by me}

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Aside from the commercial bus drivers extortion habit, there are other extortionists. They include police and miscreants in the different parts of the state.

I almost got into a fight some years ago during the holiday. It happened that I saved up some money to repaint my apartment and get a few things to make the place look beautiful.

On my way from the market that year, the tricycle I hired was stopped by some miscreants who mounted roadblocks at every bus stop. The tricycle driver gave these guys a token but they rejected it and insisted that he paid more. I had to interfere because I had other things to do and it became clear that those guys wanted money from me because the goods in the tricycle belonged to me. I was like why should I pay you after paying a huge amount for transportation and it led to a heated argument. These guys are at every corner of the city where I live, they cause problems for people going about their preparation for the holiday and disappear into the thin air after.

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Things could have been better if we could involve the Police in cases like that or wouldn't it be nice to see these miscreants taken out of the road? It would be great but the people we can seek help from are also at different checkpoints extorting people.

We have stories about how vehicle tires are been shot and how people lose their lives just because they refuse to do what their extortionist demanded from them. The common slogan they are using is that they are collecting "Owo Odun/Festive money"

Extorting people because it's a holiday doesn't speak well and I can't wait to see the end of that silly tradition. If people choose to give drivers and even police officers gifts, I am not against that but forcefully taking it from them because it's Christmas is a wrong holiday tradition.