By Many educational institutions in Nigeria ended their year with fabulous Christmas parties. Christmas is celebrated on the 25th December every year. It is a Christian festival celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and is traditionally characterised by tinsel-decorated trees, mince pies, present-giving and a turkey dinner. Families come together to eat, drink, be merry and argue over xmas TV, whereas children look forward to a visit from Santa Claus and his sack of presents.
A Muslim educator, Idrees Ismail explained that the christmas celebration in his school, Golden place College was a great one and that both Muslims and Christians celebrated in harmony:
“The Christmas celebration in my school is a great one. As you can see, both muslim and christain teachers are happy and enjoying the merriments. I am also excited celebrating prophet Issa.”
As a matter of fact, Christmas celebration in schools posed the importance of religion on many children. Speaking with an educator in Canterbury international school, Emmanuel Ige, he explained that it is really important to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ:
“By the Christian faith, we believe that the birth of Jesus Christ is far more important than anybody on planet earth. It is because by faith, we believe the birth of Christ was phenomenal and it’s meant to be celebrated.”
The pupils of the school were also excited with the celebration. Speaking with one of the pupils, Daniella Smart, she said that the celebration has helped her to know the importance of christmas:
“We are celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. I really enjoyed the celebration. I saw Santa Claus, he gave me gifts, I performed on stage and I received a medal. I am really happy.”
In addition, another pupil, Jasmine Joseph explained that she was really excited seeing Santa Claus who gave her gifts and reminds her of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Speaking with Omotola Adewole, one of the educators, she also narrated how important it is for schools to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ:
“Just like everyone celebrate birthdays, we sometimes celebrate birthday of departed loved ones. Jesus came for a special purpose, which is to die and save humanity that’s the more reason why the celebration should take place. As Christians, we celebrate his birthday and other days attached to him.. The significance of the celebration is to remember his coming to the world in flesh.”
Christians believe that Jesus is the light of the world, so the early Christians thought that this was the right time to celebrate the birth of Jesus. However, many Muslim pupils and teachers also took part in the celebration. Other countries should emulate religious tolerance and harmony to sustain peace and development.
