A Diaspora Christmas: How Kenyan Families Cope With Festivities Away From Home

 

Christmas is enveloped in cultural and family traditions, hence a different experience for Kenyans living overseas. 

Esther Bakhita, a Kenyan citizen, will spend this Christmas in Denmark, she notes that although spending Christmas abroad can be a great adventure, it can also make one miss home and the usual traditions.

Her best Christmas memory back in Kenya is spending time with her mother and slaughtering a goat.

“It is my sixth Christmas and this year I am planning to have both Kenyan and Danish Christmas, which will involve gifts, something that I ever did while in Kenya. We are also going to have both Danish and Kenyan meals like Nyama Choma,” she says. 

Although the Christmas celebration in Denmark is often intimate, she plans to keep the Christmas spirit alive during this festive season by hosting her friend and have a more vibrant Kenyan celebration.

ALSO READ

• From dress code to setting boundaries; Dos and don’ts of staff end year parties

• Christmas in the city: A security guard’s tale on new norm amid tough times

• A caregiver’s tale of supporting patients through sickness, final stages

“You feel home away from home when you have your Kenyan friends around this time mostly because you can converse in Kiswahili, have collective memory of your home country and get to enjoy Kenyan dishes, loneliness can be amplified by the absence of such things,” she said.

It is no different for Joyce Pesian and her family, who will be spending their first Christmas in Wellington, New Zealand.

According to her, the majority of the people travel over the holidays to other parts of the country and out of the country.

“It's summer here, so everyone is in holiday mode. Generally during Christmas people take the opportunity to travel. Most companies actually hire casuals to replace the holidaymakers. Fun times I hope to do this next year,” she said.

The mother of three recalls her best Christmas that  she spent with family with fondness, aalmost her entire life.

“Mostly those held at my children paternal great grandmother. Those were fun. Nostalgia is definitely there, missing home culture family and friends, but we stick together as a family and make merry as one. Holiday season family becomes important as you have people to fall back into,” she says. 

Is it best to keep up traditions or embrace the alternative?

For those accustomed to celebrating Christmas at home, this seems to be the essential question. There’s no right answer of course, but there are a whole range of experiences.

Pesian explains Kenyans in Wellington have organized a traditional way of celebrating Christmas.

“Kenyans generally find a way to meet up in these occasions, we are going the Kenyan way, we will have Nyama choma. A Kenyan offered their home for the gathering and its going to be quite a crowd of close to seven families and individuals,” she says. 

“Am not sure this is how it goes normally on past Christmas but I have seen Kenyans gather often during holidays. The last one was Jamuhuri day, in Auckland they had a gathering for mbuzi choma at one of the homesteads," she adds. 

Although she is excited about this Christmas, she would love to also experience the alternatives.

“Like going off to Fiji for holiday, but for this season I think we will stick to the old tradition of gathering over mbuzi choma," she says.   

By Ann Nyathira