Christmas Traditions No. 8 Kenya

Kenyans travel and gather together at Christmas time.  They’ll travel back to the villages where they grew up, from the cities where they live and work.  It is often the only time in the year large families can gather together.  People try to be home by Christmas Eve so they can help with preparations.

Midnight Mass is the service attended by many, consisting of carols, songs, poems and dancing.  Afterwards is when the party really starts and carries on through Christmas morning.  If gifts are exchanged, they are small tokens, sometimes food, or gifts from missionaries.

Festive decorations are balloons, colourful ribbons, paper decorations, flowers and green leaves.  Evergreen firs aren’t available to decorate as Christmas trees, but cyprus trees are sometimes a chosen substitute.  Large stores can sometimes have fake snow inside as well as Santa Claus – who will probably arrive by land rover of camel rather than a reindeer.

In Swahil (a language spoken in Kenya) Merry Christmas is ‘Heri ya Krismasi’ and the response is ‘Wewe pia’ (you also)

Nyama Choma is the Kenyan phrase for the main Christmas meal.  Barbecued goat, sheep, beef or chicken is accompanied by rice a flat breads.  Each region will also have their own speciality dishes through western-style foods like christmas cake aren’t very common.

Kenyans like to drink their own coffee naturally, but also their own homebrew beers at the festive gathering of clans.  Our Kenyan choice single-origin is really top grade and a crowning addition to any feast.

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