Christmas in Tanzania

Although I'm not a huge fan of Christmas (as far as American holidays go I'm more of a Thanksgiving and Independence Day kind of guy), it is widely celebrated across the world and Tanzania is no different. It seems that most Tanzanians use Christmas as the time of the year to return to their village or town their parents live. Our organization had off from the 20th of December until the 6th of January and I don't think this was unusual for Tanzanian organizations. The Christmas and New Year celebrations blend together for an extended holiday. 

Since I am not religious and my partner and I don't really exchange gifts, I thought the Christmas season would be uneventful. So I was happy when one of my Tanzanian co-workers, Simon, invited me to his house for a Christmas meal. After asking around I deduced that Christmas mainly consisted of going to Church in the morning or Christmas eve, followed by a massive meal that stretched from late afternoon into the evening. I had also heard they didn't exchange gifts, rather it was the custom to buy your children new clothes so they could strut around town looking chic. Some people told me this used to be a huge deal if you were from a village but since we resided in the city it had lost its meaning. I had also heard that in the village it was the one time of the year you would eat the Tanzanian rice dish pilau, as rice was too costly the rest of the year. Many of my coworkers had memories of stuffing themselves full of pilau during the Christmas time. 

As a result of what we heard, we dressed in our finest clothes when we went to my co-worker's compound on Christmas around 2pm. We were surprised when we entered Simon's house and realized his entire family was basically wearing shorts and t-shirts. We introduced ourselves to his wife and his sister-in law (both cooking), though we did not receive introductions with about four children running around the compound. 

We sat down in his sitting area and spent probably about an hour or two just chatting with Simon. He is a very engaging guy with a warm smile and kind nature. He told stories from his previous jobs, which took him all over East Africa from Uganda to Sudan. He had some pretty intense stories and we enjoyed hearing his perspective on a variety of issues from children in sports (he is the sports teacher at our organization), gender roles, violence in Sudan, ethnic clashes, and Tanzanian culture. 

When it was time for eat, I thought Simon's entire family was going to join us. I was mistaken and it was only us sitting for a massive meal. I regret not asking why, but I was pretty confused with the whole situation. His kids brought in the food and his wife joined us at the table after the meal, which I thought was strange. 

The food was excellent though. It started off with mango, orange and pineapple. After this, the salads and main courses were brought out. Roasted banana, pilau rice, chicken, beef stew...the meal was complete and delicious. We were told that we should finish all the food (impossible) and instructed to eat cucumber when we felt like we could not eat anymore. Apparently it helps digestion.

Fruit appetizer and desserts. 

The main spread. 

After we ate, had seconds...and thirds...we sat around and chatted for about an hour more. It was kind of an awkward time of the day, maybe around 6 p.m., so I didn't know if it was appropriate to leave or if we were expected to stay and possibly eat more? We ended up leaving before sundown and when we got home we were greeted by food from our landlady and her family. They wanted us to eat, and we escaped eating until a few hours later when they were sufficiently drunk and wandered over to our place to insist we eat something around 10pm. We went and had some food with them (lamb, pork, beef), and it was obvious they had been eating and drinking all day.

In conclusion, I had an 'interesting' Christmas, though I did enjoy the customs I saw. With no gift giving, family, and lots of food...well, in the end it is a bit more of a Thanksgiving than a Christmas!