In a word, yes.
When I was applying for the Peace Corps, a friend of mine wrote a recommendation for me. When she found out I would be heading to Africa, she told me I had to find out if "they knew it was Christmastime" in Africa. BandAid had long ago posed the question, and I was to answer it. Even though I ended up in Madgascar, which is only barely a part of Africa (the local people do not like to be called Africans, and see themselves as separate, so much so that a history of the island I read said that upon independence, Madagascar refused to join Pan African groups unless the name was changed from "(Generic Organization) of Africa" to "(Generic Organization) of Africa and Madagascar), I found out that they do know. Christmas is a big deal here, in a religious sense. After all, almost the whiole island is either Catholic or Protestant. But the commercial aspect is much less.
There is some modern Western commercialism though. For instance, in the large towns (I am currently in teh capital, Tana) there are street santas, people dressed up as Santa to take pictures with and such. But the people here are mostly black, yet always put on a white/Caucasian Santa mask. The effect is a strange one. Also, there are some Coca Cola posters around with Santa and some French writing about Christmas. And a few places sell lights and other decorations. But for the most part, the holiday is religious. People go to church on Christmas eve night, and again on Christmas. They eat a big meal with their family (just like in the USA... but much more rice). There are not really big parties, that is more of an event for New Years (again like the USA).
I spent Christmas with some volunteers here, and we cooked a big dinner and watched American tv (Weeds and the Office) and movies (namely Alladin!) and had Madagascar stockings, or plastic bags filled with candy, peanuts and lychees.
Speaking of lychees, they are a delightful small fruit that are ubiquitous here in Madagascar during the month of December (when they are "in season" and ripe). They are sweet, and you simply peel off the hard skin to get at the delicious flesh of the fruit. Everywhere you look, the skins and pits are strewn across the ground. It is pretty crazy. Also mangos are in season, and they are also delicious. I have not helped anyone harvest mangos, but I did help get lychees down from a friends' tree. They were high up, so we took a long stick with a split in it and put the gap around the small branch holding the lychees, then twisted the stick until the branch broke and, still wrapped around the stick, we lowered the lychees on the branch to the ground. So, to paraphrase a classic jam... I really love your lychees wanna shake your tree...
One last note on Girls Camp from November. The camp was a week long, and we ran all sorts of cool sessions, including decision making and life choices skills, health sessions on relationships and HIV/AIDS, environment sessions on cookstoves, the rainforest and trees and many others. I led a session on tree planting that included a game of human pyramid to demonstrate the need for strong and wide roots to make a tree grow healthy and strong. There are lots of good pics at the girls camp site (now linked on the right), but you can especially check out the girls' pyramids. It was a good time, and goofy and hilarious too. Oh and we had a gameday that featured such classics as duck duck goose and tug of war. So we spread a little Americana as well!
Finally, as for other pics, I tried uploading some from the event known as FestiNew Cranksgiving, which included yours truly in "Young Santa" attire, but the computer is very slow. Hopefully my sister will be putting up some old photos here soon and we can recap them all for you. Otherwise, until next time, Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
