Good Evening Hives… Nigerian tradition is not only about masquerades, festivals, or big celebrations. Sometimes, it is something you practice everyday to get adapted to it which becomes part and persu of you. There is one ritual that l value some much which is morning prayer. From my childhood inception, my parents never joked about it. Every morning before anyone could leave for school, do any house chores or even step out of the house going to work, we had to gather in the sitting room because we had a big sitting room that accommodated us to dance from one place to another or even when praying, you can move around by not staying in one place.
We start with a worship song, from there we move straight to praise, and after that we do a short prayer for us to listen to a short exhortation from the Bible (A word of God to get us motivated and inspired throughout the day). There was a funny incident that happened then, I still remember vividly, many mornings when I was in secondary school, rushing to catch a bus, but no one was allowed to step out of the house until we had prayed. Imagine!!. Back then, it always looked annoying to me, but now I see it as one of the greatest gifts my parents gave me and is still helping me up till now. What a good tradition that helped my spiritual life a lot.
As an adult now, I can’t leave home without that short conversation with God. It has mastered me, l have allowed it to dominate me because if l don’t do it in a day, it looks like a pin was removed from my bone and it won’t look incomplete. Though I don’t do long prayers like that, l spend up to five minutes (5) all together with worship and praise.I always say these words to end my prayer: “God, please guide my steps today, keep me from trouble, and bless my hustle.” Another tradition that captured my heart then is Sunday food after church. Anyone who grew up in Nigeria knows there’s something special about Sunday rice, we know how it all goes now. No matter how tough the week has been, you can always count on that meal waiting at home. My mother’s style was jollof rice with fried plantain, sometimes with chicken stew.(A mouth watering food and delicious aroma) We all sat around one table, eating, joking, laughing, even arguing a little but in the end, it was always love that filled the room. That food was never just food, it was memory, bonding, and family love. Even now that we are all grown, whenever we come together on Sundays probably during Festive period because my siblings and l do travel home to spend the festive period with our parents, it still feels as sweet as those days long ago.
To be frank with you, if you don’t have at least one or two traditions or rituals that you hold onto, life can easily feel scattered. But when you have those steady practices, they shape your mind, give you identity, and remind you of where you come from.That is it!!! And that is why these simple Nigerian rituals mean so much to me, and I wouldn’t trade them for anything.
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