Merry Christmas,
Temperatures here have dropped to a frigid 60° F. Everyone is dressed up like Eskimos (no, seriously, everyone is dressed up like Eskimos). Dust is glistening in the streets. Donkeys and oxen, long-lost relatives of the beasts that carried Mary and Jesus, smile faintly as they slowly weave between overloaded taxis. Minivans, piled high with chickens, pots, and… zucchinis meander toward the village. The call to prayer echoes from multiple minarets. Brown trees don’t seem so brown. Fishermen mend their nets along the green banks of the Niger River. Watermelon season is in full swing, and the occasional mango can be found. Cold Cokes and yam fries fill the heart with cheer. If you’re lucky, you might even catch a glimpse of an ethnic Santa riding a reincamel. Ah, yes, Christmas time in Niger!
Christmas in Niger is rather subdued when compared to many places around the world. Islam is the vastly predominant religion, so, obviously, Christmas is not so punctuated. As my dad would say about small towns in Oklahoma, if you blink, you’ll miss it. The absence of the glitz and glamour of the holiday machine gives opportunity for reflection and thought. The constant drone of a whirling consumer society is largely absent here. There are no street decorations. No one is ringing bells in front of Wal-Marts. There are no Wal-Marts. Neither snow nor ice makes an appearance. Christmas trees are rare. Public nativity scenes are rarer. It is in this vacuum of stuff that the voice of Christmas rings clear and true. God became man and journeyed to a remote planet to enable lonely humans to have a friendship with a gracious God. We must work together to tell the world.
Christmas is a time when the often-marginalized Christian community is allowed to demonstrate its solidarity. Nigerien Christian families gather with other Nigerien Christian families and partake in happy, humble celebrations. Local churches hold communal celebrations on the night of Christmas Eve. Christians who live far from home seek out other Christians living far from home and create festive moments. Christian families open their homes to Christian singles. The family of Christ, dwelling among a non-Christian society, is simply more evident this time of year.
I’d like to leave you with a story. As a kid, my dad was the absolutely last person whom I would have ever imagined to appear anywhere dressed as an Easter Bunny, a Thanksgiving Turkey, or a Santa Claus. As with most childhood memories, childhood has left its mark on the veracity of the details of this story. However, as I remember it, we were attending a Christmas function at which the intended Santa was absent. Then Santa appeared. To my ultimate surprise, my dad had donned a Santa suit. Strangely, that event became one of my favorite Christmas memories.
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