world. For instance, the end of the year was sort of a ritual for families to leave the major cities and some come home from abroad to their villages, a family reunion of sorts. Those reunions soon grew beyond the scope of celebrating the holidays and even families that did not celebrate the holidays all made the trip back home to spend time with family at the end of the year. Another example was the fact that the holidays seemed like it was mainly for children. A major feature of the holidays in Nigeria, however, was the concept of the ‘Christmas Cloth’ . From the beginning of the year, fiscally responsible parents had begun putting aside money or perhaps already bought new outfits for their children to wear during the holidays. For children, the best part of the holidays was walking down the street in their new clothes and showing them off to all their friends. Beside clothes, were fresh hairdo’s, hair made specifically for the season. The holidays were the best time of year for salons and hair stylists whose prices shot up due to the high demand for their services. One of my favourite things about the holiday season was the quiet, when everyone has travelled to their villages my neighbourhood was quiet, that is a lie, with the fireworks and crackers, there was always a noise fest, but it was genuinely quiet at home. Even more so this year, with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and Nigerian youths mourning the loss of innocent lives at the Lekki Massacre, the holidays were a lot more quiet than usual.
However, one ritual still held sway, the ‘Christmas cloth’ . This time though it was not about the children, young adult women wanted in on the action as well and two brands catered to their needs. Nigerian owned brand KAI Collective’s Gaia print was the print of the year in all its variations and was one of the brands at the
top Christmas cloth list for a lot of Nigerian women. The Alexis dress from, Nigerian brand MELODIA was next on the list. With everyone wanting to show off their Alexis or Gaia , and sharing their Christmas rice virtually, even placing orders for friends and family, the holidays on TwitterNG were full of nostalgia.
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