May is considered one of the celebration months. Apart from the fact that a lot of people seem to be born in May, there are a few very significant occasions celebrated nationally that mark May as a month worthy of recognition.
To begin with, the first day of the month is essentially a day hardworking people not only get to take a day off but also be celebrated. For one, my uncle who has been in the teaching profession for the past forty years gets to relax a bit on Labour Day, as well as enjoy a little more love from his family.
As it is here where I am from, teachers do not get the recognition and applause for the work they put in day in day out in learning institutions. I figure it's a general thing but sometimes I feel it's worse here. As a form of consolation, my uncle usually says that the love he gets from his family is more than enough to make him feel appreciated as a teacher and labourer in the Nigerian educational system.
So, other than the fact that I also get a day off from school activities, I get this warm and fuzzy feeling that the hardworking members of my family in the labour force get one day when they are given the recognition they deserve.
Then there is a flurry of birthdays close to my heart, one of which is my dad's birthday, my first love and the family's Guyman*. And down to a day in my country that has been filled with different experiences over the years since my childhood. May 27th is marked as Children's Day, and on this day, starting from the schools, children are celebrated in a royal fashion. I remember how children's days were celebrated when I was younger. Going to the stadium to march around while the Governor of the state salutes us and then afterwards, my parents would take us out to some event or the other where we'd sing and dance and eat. Yeah, eating was usually the highlight for me.
Fun times, really.
I'm not a child anymore but I'm in my early twenties so it still feels like a shock when I figure that the Children's day celebrations have nothing to do with me and I still have to be at college as early as I should be, although technically, I'm still someone's child so....lol.
Anyway, moving on to the main celebration that forms the basis of this post, it is May 29th which we celebrate in my country as Democracy Day. Or we used to. It's been moved to June 12th for a reason which I'll let you in on shortly.
May 29th was always Democracy Day but in 2018, it was moved to June 12th because it is a special day. It's the day we had the most democratic, the most free and fair election in my country, before or since. The singular election that happened in 1999 where Nigerians showed the most unity to elect the president of their choice, and after the election, where the people's choice clearly won, it was annulled so that another person could be put into power.
Nigerians were enraged at the injustice and frankly, it's something that gets me mad till this day the more I learn about what happened on that fateful day. And the fact that the Government understood what played out on that day and was able to change Democracy day to it but still doesn't have the decency to uphold the tenets of what happened on that day even till recent elections is rather sad.
Even though I could have waited till it was June 12th to make this post, the question posed by the Ladies of Hive community made me realize that I may not have the chance to share and talk about this day so why not take advantage of the opportunity?
Memorial Day in the US is remembering the military service men and women who gave their lives in service to the country. It is also the weekend that is typically thought of as the kick-off of summer. How do you celebrate it, or does your country have a special celebration this time of year as well? If so, how do you celebrate?
On democracy day, nothing much really happens. We stay indoors and maybe reminisce on the good times. There are other celebrations that happen at other times in the year but in the month of May, these are the celebrations we hold dear.
There's always a reason to be grateful and to rejoice despite the trying times so I'm glad these celebrations offer us that.
Image is mine.
