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How Christmas has evolved over the years

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Mr Dan Wandera, a journalist, celebrates Christmas at home in Wobulenzi, Luweero District in 1996. PHOTO/COURTESY OF DAN WANDERA

Observed annually, every December 25, Christians around the world celebrate the day in commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, who is referred to as the greatest religious leader in the Bible and who according to the Bible saved mankind from sin, by dying on the cross. DM bodytext: This day has been celebrated for centuries. What remains the same is that there is an air of joy and excitement during the season. What has changed, however, is the way the celebrations are done.

“Christmas celebrations today are different from what they were 50 years ago,” says 80-year-old Kumi District community elder, Mr John Otuket.

Amidst the still ongoing economic crisis, Mr Otuket says families nowadays have smaller celebrations compared to the past when the festivities extended to communities.

“The economy continues to get harder, with every passing day, with a section of people barely having money to spend on lavish celebrations. So what these people are opting to do is having smaller and intimate family celebrations that they can afford,” he says.

The high unemployment levels, the static incomes of workers, and the increasing prices of food commodities are among the contributing factors to the economic crisis.

According to a June 15, 2023 factsheet titled, “Priorities and Poverty”, by Twaweza, a non-profit organisation that works on empowering citizens, six out of 10 citizens cited the cost of living as their main concern after they were asked to name the top three problems they are currently facing in Uganda. Other major issues are unemployment (48 percent) and hunger or drought (37 percent).

Cost of living crisis

With the cost-of-living crisis, an increasing number of families are now joining the bandwagon of limiting decorations or not having them at all in their homes. Ms Immaculate Birungi, an interior designer who also sells Christmas decorations, says homeowners in Uganda do not buy lavish decorations during festive seasons. 

“Someone will just walk in and buy a couple of balloons, some Christmas lights, and a medium-sized artificial Christmas tree, and that is it. And most of these clients tell me that they do this following requests from their children. Otherwise, most of them say if it was not for the children, they would not be buying these items,” Ms Birungi says.

The artificial Christmas trees are sold in different sizes and last for years.

“So a family can just buy it once and use it for years. You find that if a client buys one artificial Christmas tree, this year, they may not buy again for years because these are durable,” she says.

The artificial Christmas trees are cost-effective for families.

The death of Christmas tree

With the ever-increasing preference for artificial Christmas trees, the trend has now slowly led to individuals slowly discarding the natural Christmas trees (whose botanic name is Cupressus Lusitanica).

Back in the day, some homeowners grew these trees as protective barriers [fences] for their homes. And when the Christmas season came, some of these homeowners would cut down some and sell them to interested parties. They would grow a new breed afterward. These natural Christmas trees were also a common sight in bushes or any redundant pieces of land in neighbourhoods.

This is no longer the case due to increased demand for land for construction as the green spaces in the country are shrinking. Also, people now prefer to erect concrete walls rather than grow the natural Christmas trees as fences.

Mr Marcus Nabende, aged 60, a resident of Mukono District says he previously had clusters of natural Christmas trees surrounding his home as a fence but was later forced to cut them.

“Whenever it was the Christmas holidays back then, some people would find a way of cutting them, without my knowledge. I remember four days before the Christmas day of 2014, I woke up and found half of the trees gone. I believe the person took and sold them off to get some money,” Mr Nabende says.

He adds: “But that was not the only problem. On other days, some thieves would either jump over the trees or penetrate through them and access my home to steal items from the compound.”

The incidents forced Mr Nabende, in 2016, to have all the natural Christmas trees cut down.

Christmas in the dot-com era

Over 40 years ago, the internet was unheard of. So, when it came to Christmas time, Ms Annet Ayemo, aged 70, says, many families had ample time to meet and merry-make together.

“We met with other family members and dined together, which was a nice feeling because the atmosphere felt genuine and intimate,” Ms Ayemo says.

And since everyone was looking forward to celebrating the day, families often reserved special meals. Distinct new outfits were often bought for their wives and children of the family, days before the big day.

“Families reserved food items such as chicken, meat, rice, and beverages such as soda, for Christmas. Of course, it is not the same case today as the majority of families can now afford to have these meals on almost a daily basis,” Ms Ayemo says.

Besides commemorating the day by having conversations, meals, and dancing, Ms Ayemo says elders would also get time to share tales about Jesus including circumstances surrounding his birth.

These intimate family moments have however slowly faded over the years. People have become more individualistic with some preferring to spend the day with only immediate family members, mostly their spouses and children.

“Then, it was all about families. Today, everyone is on their own. The young ones even no longer want to travel to villages to celebrate the day with their grandparents. They prefer to stay in town or be taken for a more fun-filled holiday,” Ms Ayemo says.

With reliable internet now and easy access to different social media platforms, some traditionalists say several people are increasingly not bothered about celebrating the day and would even rather spend it locked up in their houses chatting away on their phones, and following online church services.

Then, there are some show-offs, Mr Edward Kizito, a university student says, who just keep documenting everything they are doing during Christmas.

“They post everything they are doing during Christmas, from going to church to their intimate family gatherings, which I find annoying. What happened to keeping some sacred celebrations private?” he wonders.

Mr Kizito adds: “Christmas Day is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, but some people make it all about themselves.”


WHAT HAS CHANGED OVER THE YEARS?

· Celebrating in smaller numbers rather than communal gatherings

· The death of the natural Christmas tree as many people embrace artificial ones

· Expenses cut due to the ever-increasing costs of living

· Not as many people travel to villages to celebrate the day

· Social media influencing celebration of the day

· Few people are buying new clothes