Halloween seems like a lot of fun.
In America, people run wild with picking and even designing fun (and sometimes scary) costumes. There’s trick or treating with plenty of candy involved, loud parties and many other serenren. We should be hyped up about this popular holiday in Nigeria because we’re social and we like to party.
But somehow this never happens.
We caught the Halloween fever in my former office 2 years ago and decided to have a party but only a paltry 3 out of about 40 people showed up in costumes. It was hilarious, almost to the point of embarrassment!
In the end, we just had drinks, played games, ate a ton of candy and moved on as if nothing happened. We made another attempt in 2017, I even went as far as buying a costume but fam, the party didn’t even hold this time. I gave up on Halloween there and then.
But have you ever wondered why the Halloween fever has never caught on in Nigeria?
Halloween in the real sense of it is a holiday that celebrates death, witchcraft, and the occult. Yearly, millions of people participate in activities that could potentially open up a door for demonic activity. So as is typical with the average African and potential demonic activity; WE RUN AWAY!!!
For me, I’ll say Halloween definitely brings back the horrible childhood memories of “ojuju calabar” and scary Mount Zion movies. Our parents with plenty of assistance from Nollywood movies put fears in our heads about the dark side.
Deep inside, nobody on this side of the world wants to invite someone dressed up like a demon into their home to dine with them casually. For all we know, it’s really not a joke, and we’ll end up inviting an actual demon into the house.
I totally see my Mum at the door speaking in tongues and sprinkling some holy water on a kid dressed in a vampire costume. 📷
Of which, must we imbibe all the Oyinbo culture in the name of westernization? I mean they don’t actively celebrate our Masquerade or yam festival too, so yeah, we can say no to famzing them on this one.
Side note: I’m itching to wear the Halloween costume I bought so holla at your girl if there’s a party.📷
Written for ID Africa
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