I am grateful to you all for your love and support since the beginning of this column. SDK, I thank you too for believing in me. God bless you all.
God's willing, I will not disappoint you. More juicy gists will fall on you all this year.
To the business of the day..
Lately, I notice people don't share food during Christmas like they used to do in our days, what could be the cause? Recession? juju? Civilisation? Is Christmas not a time for sharing again?
I remember my growing up years. My siblings and I would carry large trays of food on our heads to share for people in the neighbourhood. Some of them will 'dash' us money as we deliver the food to them.
God's willing, I will not disappoint you. More juicy gists will fall on you all this year.
To the business of the day..
Lately, I notice people don't share food during Christmas like they used to do in our days, what could be the cause? Recession? juju? Civilisation? Is Christmas not a time for sharing again?
I remember my growing up years. My siblings and I would carry large trays of food on our heads to share for people in the neighbourhood. Some of them will 'dash' us money as we deliver the food to them.
Then when we are done sharing, we would line all the food brought to our house on the floor, we would then proceed to taste them one after the other and rate them. Lols.
Later, mum banned us from doing that, she would select some people's food for special prayers before eating. Lols. Juju things.
Then the plates of food recieved by us started decreasing in the early 2000s. The economic situation was beginning to bite hard by now .
I am also guilty of this non sharing of food, I don't share food on Christmas day.
I cook and serve only those who come to visit me or ask me for food outrightly like the Mama who sells provisions two blocks from my house. She asked me for food this last Christmas and I gave her.
I'm not even sure I would eat any food brought to me on that day after what I heard. Some people said wicked people use Christmas food to collect people's destinies.
Hmmmm, destiny that I'm managing and pushing to work, probably due to the fact that my village people have been scooping from it over the years, somebody will now come and collect it finally. Whether true or false, biko prevention is better than cure.
Mama Tee
*What if you tell the person who brought the food to taste it first?....The beauty of Christmas is the sharing of food,once that tradition is lost,then love is lost,the reason for the season which is sharing love,food and laughter is gone...
Revive that tradition where ever you are abeg!!!
I think it's civilization. Is it the neighbour you only see when you're driving out that you will now go and give rice or receive rice from?
ReplyDeleteMy mum still give diring Chritmas though. She gives to her muslim friend because the family always bring ram for us during sallah
Exactly lafresh. People don't interact like those days. I chop Christmas food taya for Bauchi state. Good old days
DeleteThis days people share raw food or drinks and cash. If anybody brings cooked food to my house I don't think I will eat it. Things have changed
DeleteWe still share Christmas food in my family house.
DeleteWe still share Christmas food in my family...
Deleteexactly. Experienced/experiencing the same
ReplyDeletePeople and juju! It is well o!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was growing up my mum made us share like no mans business so this Christmas it came to my head, dint want to give those fancy neighbors who would probably never eat it so I gave the aboki that sells provision down the street, also gave the security guards that work at the estate gate, and they were delighted so yes it's a tradition il definitely introduce to my kids
DeleteI remember how we'll walk to various streets with our baskets of food to deliver (it was a gated community), some will tell you to wait and give you theirs.
DeleteIt's happening errwhr mama tee.. things are changing gaan nii which I believe sharing should still remain the sole reason for the season
ReplyDeleteDuring the 80s, you enjoy going to different houses to eat their foods or carry food to people. Now 21st century, people use food to collect people's destiny. Most times it is from food they get you.
ReplyDeleteAfterall the Bible has already said it that we should be wise as a snake and gentle as a dove. If you give me food and my spirit rejects it, i will collect and say thank you, then throw it away.
Things are happening so i dont take things for granted in this my spiritual race. I have seen a lot of what food has done to people.
I know people that came to church, they tell you what they went through eating people's food. Be wise that is what i will say.
We still do it in my family
ReplyDeleteEvery Neigbour got a plate of pounded yam and egusi.
No need of telling the person to taste it...kukuma pour it away jare. I only share my food with my gateman and big boss.
ReplyDeleteBack in d day, wen christmas was all abt sharing food and laughter. When I was little, my father would rent a canopy and put christmas light on d tree in d compound and the gate would be open for all and sundry. Big pot of rice that could fill coolers would be prepared and anybody who wants food can enter the compound n sit and would surely be served . But these days... It is well.
ReplyDeleteI don't share food during Christmas again.
ReplyDelete@ Stella do you share food in the diaspora? We shared food in my house this xmas.
ReplyDeleteThat was how my friends neighbour gave her Christmas food only for her to find dead wall gecko inside it! Strange but true
ReplyDeleteAnon say what?? Chai,man wickedness ooh.
DeleteOh, mama Tee and iya ibeji always share stories we can relate to.
ReplyDeleteI can remember iya ope's Xmas cooking. We so hated her food. My mum would be like if ur Xmas food isn't sweet, how ur normal day food wan taste
We will jejely scrape away her stew from the rice then add our own stew to it before we can eat it
I remember neighbors patiently waiting for mum to finish cooking (she's always the last) and then the girls will line up with trays and start sharing food from 'domot to domot'
Now we still share to our next house neighbors and stuff but really no be like before and only a few people still bring to us too
I have 3 different families i share food to yearly and this past Christmas wasn't an exception....and they gladly receive it. Some start eating before i leave sef and they inturn,give us something. One actually gave us carton of juice for d kids
ReplyDeleteI used to enjoy sharing and receiving food, when I was growing up,but now I don't even known those leaving in my street or compound. So I don't expect food or give food. I miss those days
ReplyDeleteStella revive wetin,I stopped sharing like Mama Tee due to what happened to a friend. Then she was about 10yrs and the eldest among five siblings, there mum went out and left them at home and she has always instructed them not to eat anything given to them but to keep it till she's back. So on this fateful day a neighbour was doing her naming ceremony and shared rice to her neighbours as usual she collected the food and covered it waiting for the mum to come back,few hours later the mum is back they showed her the food immediately the mum uncovered it it was filled with maggots meanwhile this food giver was forcing them to eat the food before the arrival of the mum. The mum brought the food to show my parents cause we were nextdoor neighbours.Since then I stopped sharing but only give those that visits.
ReplyDeleteThis happened to my friend too. In her own case the food turned black. White rice to charcoal black.
DeleteI went to to salon to wash my hair yesterday,that was how one of the customers of the woman that owns the salon(one old rich woman)came with her expensive car filled with food packaged in a take away pack,told the lady to follow her to her car and gave her 4packs of the food.
ReplyDeleteShe collected it and brought the food into the salon but was sceptical about eating the food nor giving it to another person.She asked me if she should eat the it and i blatantly told her NO.My spirit just didn't accept the fact that the rice is just an ordinary jollof rice.Her worker that works for her onye eye ukwu nah onu uso dived the food.No be today people don they use festive food do terrible things stella,one has to be very careful cos Naija lawa
yes, its true. That destiny collecting thing is so true and most time is through food. Apart from Christmas , people don't share food like before because a lot of things are going on in this world. End time things. Some time, the giver meant well but the receiver will turn it to another drama.
ReplyDeleteDoes it even matter, these days, jazz has gone digital
ReplyDeleteMama Tee you are such a good writer. There is something about you and Emergency room writer. Well written, free of gbagaun, everyday gist that.
ReplyDeleteYours is serious and funny at the same time. More ink to your pen.
I think its civilization that caused people to stop sharing food. Everyone is so busy these days, there is no familiarity between neighbours like those days, just good morning and welcome sir. Some don't even recognise their neighbours. So how will you give or collect food from such a person.
Also, the economy contributes to this. In order to share food, you will have to cook plenty food and this requires more money. Where is the money?
Lastly, to be honest, I also miss those days. There is this bond that one feels from sharing food.
I remember those days too, then as my siblings got older they started avoiding going to share food paroles, as I be my mamas last card I continued for a while. Choi those were the days. When we moved and my mum wanted to start that food sharing ish I was like ko le werk o. Neighbours you don’t even know u Wan carry food go their house ,trust my Mother she gathered all the maiguards and okada riders and continued her Christmas tradition . I miss growing up days I miss my parents
ReplyDeleteNice gist as usual. Thumbs up mama tee.
ReplyDeleteThis custom is going extinct but some people who can afford it organise Xmas get together or party and people in the neighbourhood gather to eat with them. Concerning jazz, I also heard some big men who are into ritual things use that Xmas get together to collect people's glory. They kill cow, goat or ram that had been jazzed and serve people. They say it applies to some Sallah rams too. I don't know how true it is but I pray and eat it when served.
Yes o. I don't know If it was here I read where somone told her not to eat the food when she went for a party that it's for rituals. People are evil sha
DeleteThis reminds me of my first Christmas in Lagos as a single girl, I decided not to cook or even go shopping because I stayed in the BQ of a house that had couples in the main building. Due to my weight goals, I knew I could not eat so much, so to avoid the temptation, I didn't shop and cook and banked on the food I will get from the couple. My dear, that Christmas, I starved. I waited thinking, they came back from church late, then I told myself, probably they are still cooking. By 5pm, I humbly made noodles and wished myself a merry Christmas in my room. Did I forget to mention, I call them daddy and mummy oh... Awon wicked stingy neighbors.
ReplyDeleteLol
DeleteThat tradition of sharing food is gone. I think the country is too hard. A lot of people are managing
ReplyDeleteDuring sallah, we share food but our christian neighbours started rejecting it saying it's food for idols. sharp sharp, we just resorted to packing the food into take away packs and started taking it to beggars at Agege. No time abeg.. so now, we only give to close family and friends.
ReplyDeleteDuring this Christmas, the food we got from our close family and friends was so much...hanhan. We had to start sharing again.
If you don't take my sallah food, don't bring your Christmas food!!
We don't share food on Christmas day like before but my grandma still share food to everywhere,imagin sharing food from Otukpo to makurdi
ReplyDeleteI gave my neighbour and our gateman pounded yam and oha soup on Christmas day..it depends on the relationship you have with your neighbours..
ReplyDeleteSharing depend on the relationship
ReplyDeleteon Christmas day,i was skeptical about giving my neighbor food, our house is six flats ,but I was uncomfortable eating my Christmas food alone with my family, so I dish some and give to the bachelor ,and one sis in my house I was glad I did that, cos they appreciated it, and I can bet they both ate it, infact since that day, they started greeting me well and playing with my kids, I was thinking they are too big for the food, but the way they received it made me glad
ReplyDeleteI only share to my neighbour,security man and the lady that cleans my house. Something happened some years back it was year 2000 new year precisely someone brought pounded yam and egusi for us of course my mum was preparing to pound our own the difference is that ours is with ogbono so we declined eating the woman's own. Behold we gave our dogs 2puppies and a bigger dog bobby. The next morning the 1st puppy died next thing the 2nd puppy was just trying to live, while the bigger dog was just there so we called the vet Dr he checked and the 2nd puppy passed on but he was able to save bobby. He then asked what did we give the dogs it took us time to remember what we gave the dog eventually we remembered we gave them pounded yam the previous day he said I am afraid they were poisoned fear grip us like that is how we would have all died. Since then no collection of food and the only family we ever collected from after that incident was Aunty Omoni Oboli yes her fried rice was bae!
ReplyDeleteNice one Mama Tee. All those saying it has stopped are in the cities.
ReplyDeleteFace hinterland and see something, before the cooks are through around 12noon, people don berth finish, some with smaml coolers. They collect,take it home and pray over it. Everyone has their own 'ode eshi' na. The axiom is "is your god more powerful than my GOD?" Nothing mega.
Growing up Mumsie's dishes were ready as early as 9am, she and her helping hands usually start early mormor.Me and closer siblings leave them for Xmas service because we gats to launch our xmas rubber wristwatches and funny eyeglasses. We return to a home filled with cheeerful visitors.
There is love in sharing.
...Mama Tee village people have been scooping from your destiny?
go mountain go break their hands and spoons.
WWell we were taught that when you are giving food to strangers you taste from that food. But our neighbours then used to look forward to our sharing cos my mama sabi bottom pot rice taste. Na that one dem go chop. The neighbours kids will be asking us how far from the fence. They don't bring to us cos they know their own no de make sense. Lol
ReplyDeleteYey... I did d food sharing o my pple I am yet 2 receive any of my coolers back. Abuja people is dat how u use 2 do
ReplyDeleteI shared food this chrismas and I had to go collect my cooler myself....I enjoyed cooking a pot of party rice and sharing..before, by chrismas my daddy would have gotten goat, chicken, bags of rice as gifts but this year no shishi
Delete