Lantern Festival & Co... The annual festivals that punctuates my life.

I grew up celebrating a bunch of traditions and annual occasions with my family. There is one that is usually celebrated at the end of a rainy season each year. It happens around August and since Yam is regarded as the king of foods in my Culture, the end of each rainy season is celebrated with a festival called New Yam Festival.

During that occasion, newly harvested yam is mashed into what we call pounded yam and used to eat Egusi soup. You can literally cook the yam however you want though.

It's funny that we celebrate this occasion because my Dad was never really a farmer and my Mum never really did serious farm work. I guess we just move with the trend and celebrate the festival for the fun of it. We do it in our own little way as a family although a bigger version of the festival is celebrated all over Igbo land in a more significant way.

It's been a couple of years since I last participated in this festival. I basically bid farewell to it when I left home. I don't even cook or buy yam whenever I'm away from home. So, it doesn't really make sense for me to fantasize about the festival.

Christmas and Easter Celebration, on the other hand, is a different story altogether.

Oh, my!

We don't mess around with any of that celebration. As a Christian, each of these celebrations means so much more to me and it's widely celebrated in Nigeria to the point where the Christmas and Easter seasons are mapped out as national public holidays.

Easter Celebration isn't as widely celebrated as Christmas though. Maybe it's the time of the year it falls into or just the overall build-up to the celebration. The build-up to Easter celebration basically kicks off on Ash Wednesday which is 46 days before Easter day. We like to be part of it in my family and I still stick to that practice after several years of living away from home.

Christmas may well pass as the biggest festival that's celebrated in Nigeria as a whole. It's even more significant than the Nigerian Independence Day celebration and I'm not surprised about that. During this season, the build-up to that usually transcends the religious arena and gets to the pricing of goods, the massive increase in travel, and a hyperactive society at large.

I genuinely believe that each of these festivals will grow so much bigger with time. At least, that has been my observation over the last two decades.

Celebrations from other Communities which I admire;

As I grew older and got to associate with folks from other regions, cultures, and other parts,s of the globe, I've gotten to gain knowledge about some annual festivals/occasions they celebrate which I'm fascinated by. Some of those are;

1. Annual Thanksgiving in the US and Canada.

I wasn't aware of this festival until I started connecting with native Canadians and Americans in the digital space. That was how I got to know of all the buzz they make about their annual Thanksgiving Day. If I'm not mistaken, it seems like Americans and Canadians have separate days for this celebration, and none of them spare turkeys during this ceremony.

Apart from having a fancy name, the significance of the occasion is something I fancy so much. They take it as a moment to celebrate families and friends and also to show gratitude for the harvests they made for that year. I usually hear my American and Canadian folks make vacation and cooking plans during this season. That's an occasion I would like to witness someday.

2. Lantern festival in Korea, Japan, and China.

Upon a quick search, I realized that this lantern festival is not just celebrated in the three countries I mentioned. It's actually widely celebrated in a lot of Asian countries, but what introduced me to the festival is my deep-rooted research into Gorguyeo (now, Korea). That was when I first became exposed to what this festival is about and I like how they have still been holding this festival for over 1000 years.

While the scenes of this festival are full of life, vigor, and colorful displays, the thing I fancy the most about this is the symbolism of the occasion. If I ever find myself in Korea during one of these occasions, I will be lighting a lantern in honor of the festival. Hehe.

Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop or Comma.
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