Christmas around the world 3

A ZAMBIAN CHRISTMAS - By Jayne

Forget the snow and the mistletoe; Christmas in Zambia is marked by the arrival of the beautiful orange/red flamboyant trees, bright red poinsettias and flame lilies. If we’re lucky the ‘rains’ will have arrived and the country will be covered with a fresh carpet of green grass. All the traditional colours of Christmas under a blazing azure blue sky with a glint of raindrops and rainbows!

Zambia is such a melting pot of different nationalities and traditions that Christmas can be an excitingly different experience depending on who you visit! We have many English, Danish, Swedish, South African and Australian friends here and each family brings some unique Christmas tradition with them from their own background. I have eaten Danish roasted pork over one Christmas and had South African ‘braai’ with ‘potjiekos’ and ‘beer bread’ over another. I have sat down to traditional English turkey and ham lunch on the day after consuming Scottish roast lamb on Christmas Eve followed by a traditional braai on Boxing Day!

Added to this is the ever evolving local ‘traditions’. Christmas for local Zambians is marked by feasting and beer drinking! Families living the village life would pool their resources together, the main course consisting of a freshly slaughtered pig or goat and homemade traditional beer made from fermented maize and millet. Christmas lunch in town would more likely be chicken and rice and shop bought beer! Vegetables and relish would consist of whatever fresh produce is available at the time; a favourite is pumpkin leaves and flowers – very tasty!

Over the years, my family have built up many of our own traditions. Most are based on traditional English ideas brought by our parents when they immigrated to Africa. We always have a Christmas tree but not always traditional. One year I might use an interestingly shaped branch and get very ‘designer’ African. Another I might go full out and have the big green fir tree with traditional decorations. One thing we always have is vases full of beautiful bright red flame lilies, these are our Christmas flowers and my children could not imagine Christmas without them. We always have a hot Christmas lunch with glazed ham, savoury sausage stuffed chicken (not turkey) and apricot stuffed medallions of roasted pork. I try different combinations of vegetables every year but we always have carrots in a nutmeg white sauce and roasted butternut – a new family tradition since coming to Zambia! As my baking skills are not that good, we make the traditional Christmas cake (laced with port) do for pudding (with custard and thick clotted cream) and also for general munching later in the day. Very nice for mid morning tea on Boxing Day (with a chunk of cheese!) and an ‘anytime I’m starving’ treat with ice-cream!

Father Christmas still visits Zambia! It does feel a little odd to see a large ‘fat’ man, dressed in traditional red suit and beard sitting under a tree in the blazing sun. He doesn’t usually arrive with his reindeer, I have seen him come in a helicopter, land with a parachute after jumping out of a plane, arrive on a horse and climb out of a land rover! He certainly has to be pretty versatile and fairly agile over here!

For my family, Christmas is a time to spend together, to laze around the house, listen to loud Christmas carols and overeat! It is a time for laughter and fun and a good excuse to open the port bottle and have a few too many while we remember the many family members living elsewhere or no longer with us. Christmas, to us, means family!