₦airaland Forum

Love800:
What do you mean by cooperative society?

Sapasenator:
As kids growing up in Nigeria, Christmas was the most important celebration for us and we eagerly looked forward to it.

I came from a very poor background so rice was not what we eat regularly, Christmas was an opportunity for us kids to eat rice and chicken to our fills.

Christmas usually started around November, this was when my parent would go to Balogun market to buy Christmas clothes and shoes for all of us.

We never went along, it was only our parents who would select Christmas clothes and shoes and we had this curiosity waiting for them to come back so we can inspect the clothes and shoes.

They had us place our feets on cardboard boxes and a pen was used to mark our feet sizes before cutting the cardboard boxes, this way, the right sizes of shoes were bought.

Once they were back from the market, we locked the doors and windows to test the clothes and shoes, our friends would be at our windows, peeking to be the first to see our clothes.

I remember wiping the bottoms of my shoes after testing them so they remain brand new on Christmas day. That was the only day we got brand new clothes, the rest of the year, my mom would send us to Sylvanus store to select used clothes to compare and see who got the best clothes. Hehehehe.

Two weeks to Christmas, my mom would go to the market and select about three chickens to feed for slaughter on the eve of Christmas day. So, at 6 pm on the 24th December, we would kill the chickens and start preparing for Christmas, we kids never sleep in the night as we kept dreaming of the next day.

I and my friends we used car plugs, wood and matches to create knockouts for the celebrate as we could not afford banga.
We would wake very early in the morning of Christmas, bath and put on our Christmas clothes, shoes and attires and, off we went to our friend's houses, together as a group we knock on the doors off all our neighbors and random strangers.

The rule then was anyone who came to your house on Christmas, you have to feed them even if they were total strangers so, we just randomly knocked on doors, walked in , eat rice and chicken and, ask the adults to " do Christmas for us".

We walked all around town eating from strangers, blowing knockouts and collecting Christmas money.

After we are done eating outside, then I would lead my friends to our home, by then my moms food was ready, by and I would eat together. We also dished out foods in trays to share to our neighbors and the neighbors in return will offer us trays of food and drinks.

We had this family friend that worked at Coca Cola and every year end , we always received about 4 crates of Coca Cola for this family reserved for our Christmas day feast.

At the end of the day, I would be so full that I would not be able to lie face down for all the food I had eaten that day.

What was your experience growing up on Christmas day, was it similar to mine?
Did you guys go about eating food from strangers and asking for Christmas money?
Is this practice still continuing today?

Thinking back, I must say it was very fun every Christmas and on new years days, we carried on with the celebrations.
I would not lie as it was a magical moments for us.

Share your experience growing up in Nigeria on Christmas days. Forgive my typos as I am on my second champagne bottle with my Jamaican Dragon Stout beer.

Sapasenator:
As kids growing up in Nigeria, Christmas was the most important celebration for us and we eagerly looked forward to it.

I came from a very poor background so rice was not what we eat regularly, Christmas was an opportunity for us kids to eat rice and chicken to our fills.

Christmas usually started around November, this was when my parent would go to Balogun market to buy Christmas clothes and shoes for all of us.

We never went along, it was only our parents who would select Christmas clothes and shoes and we had this curiosity waiting for them to come back so we can inspect the clothes and shoes.

They had us place our feets on cardboard boxes and a pen was used to mark our feet sizes before cutting the cardboard boxes, this way, the right sizes of shoes were bought.

Once they were back from the market, we locked the doors and windows to test the clothes and shoes, our friends would be at our windows, peeking to be the first to see our clothes.

I remember wiping the bottoms of my shoes after testing them so they remain brand new on Christmas day. That was the only day we got brand new clothes, the rest of the year, my mom would send us to Sylvanus store to select used clothes to compare and see who got the best clothes. Hehehehe.

Two weeks to Christmas, my mom would go to the market and select about three chickens to feed for slaughter on the eve of Christmas day. So, at 6 pm on the 24th December, we would kill the chickens and start preparing for Christmas, we kids never sleep in the night as we kept dreaming of the next day.

I and my friends we used car plugs, wood and matches to create knockouts for the celebrate as we could not afford banga.
We would wake very early in the morning of Christmas, bath and put on our Christmas clothes, shoes and attires and, off we went to our friend's houses, together as a group we knock on the doors off all our neighbors and random strangers.

The rule then was anyone who came to your house on Christmas, you have to feed them even if they were total strangers so, we just randomly knocked on doors, walked in , eat rice and chicken and, ask the adults to " do Christmas for us".

We walked all around town eating from strangers, blowing knockouts and collecting Christmas money.

After we are done eating outside, then I would lead my friends to our home, by then my moms food was ready, by and I would eat together. We also dished out foods in trays to share to our neighbors and the neighbors in return will offer us trays of food and drinks.

We had this family friend that worked at Coca Cola and every year end , we always received about 4 crates of Coca Cola for this family reserved for our Christmas day feast.

At the end of the day, I would be so full that I would not be able to lie face down for all the food I had eaten that day.

What was your experience growing up on Christmas day, was it similar to mine?
Did you guys go about eating food from strangers and asking for Christmas money?
Is this practice still continuing today?

Thinking back, I must say it was very fun every Christmas and on new years days, we carried on with the celebrations.
I would not lie as it was a magical moments for us.

Share your experience growing up in Nigeria on Christmas days. Forgive my typos as I am on my second champagne bottle with my Jamaican Dragon Stout beer.

Sapasenator:
As kids growing up in Nigeria, Christmas was the most important celebration for us and we eagerly looked forward to it.

I came from a very poor background so rice was not what we eat regularly, Christmas was an opportunity for us kids to eat rice and chicken to our fills.

Christmas usually started around November, this was when my parent would go to Balogun market to buy Christmas clothes and shoes for all of us.

We never went along, it was only our parents who would select Christmas clothes and shoes and we had this curiosity waiting for them to come back so we can inspect the clothes and shoes.

They had us place our feets on cardboard boxes and a pen was used to mark our feet sizes before cutting the cardboard boxes, this way, the right sizes of shoes were bought.

Once they were back from the market, we locked the doors and windows to test the clothes and shoes, our friends would be at our windows, peeking to be the first to see our clothes.

I remember wiping the bottoms of my shoes after testing them so they remain brand new on Christmas day. That was the only day we got brand new clothes, the rest of the year, my mom would send us to Sylvanus store to select used clothes to compare and see who got the best clothes. Hehehehe.

Two weeks to Christmas, my mom would go to the market and select about three chickens to feed for slaughter on the eve of Christmas day. So, at 6 pm on the 24th December, we would kill the chickens and start preparing for Christmas, we kids never sleep in the night as we kept dreaming of the next day.

I and my friends we used car plugs, wood and matches to create knockouts for the celebrate as we could not afford banga.
We would wake very early in the morning of Christmas, bath and put on our Christmas clothes, shoes and attires and, off we went to our friend's houses, together as a group we knock on the doors off all our neighbors and random strangers.

The rule then was anyone who came to your house on Christmas, you have to feed them even if they were total strangers so, we just randomly knocked on doors, walked in , eat rice and chicken and, ask the adults to " do Christmas for us".

We walked all around town eating from strangers, blowing knockouts and collecting Christmas money.

After we are done eating outside, then I would lead my friends to our home, by then my moms food was ready, by and I would eat together. We also dished out foods in trays to share to our neighbors and the neighbors in return will offer us trays of food and drinks.

We had this family friend that worked at Coca Cola and every year end , we always received about 4 crates of Coca Cola for this family reserved for our Christmas day feast.

At the end of the day, I would be so full that I would not be able to lie face down for all the food I had eaten that day.

What was your experience growing up on Christmas day, was it similar to mine?
Did you guys go about eating food from strangers and asking for Christmas money?
Is this practice still continuing today?

Thinking back, I must say it was very fun every Christmas and on new years days, we carried on with the celebrations.
I would not lie as it was a magical moments for us.

Share your experience growing up in Nigeria on Christmas days. Forgive my typos as I am on my second champagne bottle with my Jamaican Dragon Stout beer.

BABANGBALI:
I wasn't born in Nigeria

Sapasenator:
As kids growing up in Nigeria, Christmas was the most important celebration for us and we eagerly looked forward to it.

I came from a very poor background so rice was not what we eat regularly, Christmas was an opportunity for us kids to eat rice and chicken to our fills.

Christmas usually started around November, this was when my parent would go to Balogun market to buy Christmas clothes and shoes for all of us.

We never went along, it was only our parents who would select Christmas clothes and shoes and we had this curiosity waiting for them to come back so we can inspect the clothes and shoes.

They had us place our feets on cardboard boxes and a pen was used to mark our feet sizes before cutting the cardboard boxes, this way, the right sizes of shoes were bought.

Once they were back from the market, we locked the doors and windows to test the clothes and shoes, our friends would be at our windows, peeking to be the first to see our clothes.

I remember wiping the bottoms of my shoes after testing them so they remain brand new on Christmas day. That was the only day we got brand new clothes, the rest of the year, my mom would send us to Sylvanus store to select used clothes to compare and see who got the best clothes. Hehehehe.

Two weeks to Christmas, my mom would go to the market and select about three chickens to feed for slaughter on the eve of Christmas day. So, at 6 pm on the 24th December, we would kill the chickens and start preparing for Christmas, we kids never sleep in the night as we kept dreaming of the next day.

I and my friends we used car plugs, wood and matches to create knockouts for the celebrate as we could not afford banga.
We would wake very early in the morning of Christmas, bath and put on our Christmas clothes, shoes and attires and, off we went to our friend's houses, together as a group we knock on the doors off all our neighbors and random strangers.

The rule then was anyone who came to your house on Christmas, you have to feed them even if they were total strangers so, we just randomly knocked on doors, walked in , eat rice and chicken and, ask the adults to " do Christmas for us".

We walked all around town eating from strangers, blowing knockouts and collecting Christmas money.

After we are done eating outside, then I would lead my friends to our home, by then my moms food was ready, by and I would eat together. We also dished out foods in trays to share to our neighbors and the neighbors in return will offer us trays of food and drinks.

We had this family friend that worked at Coca Cola and every year end , we always received about 4 crates of Coca Cola for this family reserved for our Christmas day feast.

At the end of the day, I would be so full that I would not be able to lie face down for all the food I had eaten that day.

What was your experience growing up on Christmas day, was it similar to mine?
Did you guys go about eating food from strangers and asking for Christmas money?
Is this practice still continuing today?

Thinking back, I must say it was very fun every Christmas and on new years days, we carried on with the celebrations.
I would not lie as it was a magical moments for us.

Share your experience growing up in Nigeria on Christmas days. Forgive my typos as I am on my second champagne bottle with my Jamaican Dragon Stout beer.

treatise:
A pair of eyeglasses would give an impression I was about to fall into a gutter of hole. Chai

bluefilm:
First of all, your experience is not really that of a person who came from a poor background

It sounded to me like the experience of a typical 80s/ 90s born

The only difference with your own experience is that we don't normally go to the house of strangers to eat food

Our parents will definitely kill us if we did that!

bluefilm:
First of all, your experience is not really that of a person who came from a poor background

It sounded to me like the experience of a typical 80s/ 90s born

The only difference with your own experience is that we don't normally go to the house of strangers to eat food

Our parents will definitely kill us if we did that!

AreaFada2:

But it would be a "sin" not to wear one.
You forgot those who wore white socks, sandals, red/blue goggles and asoebi.

richiemcgold:
.. growing up in the early 80s, we wore aso ebi sown by a local tailor in the neighborhood. You can also call it " and-co"

We also put on our brand new plastic wristwatch and googles

We trek from street to street to visit families friends and church members. We eat rice and chicken at everywhere we visit and returned home in the evening with bloated stomachs and over-bloated pockets. 🤪

There was no knockout or banger in my time, we made use of what we call racket as firecracker. My racket and matches were always in my pocket during this season. We move in group and blast our rackets everywhere we go. Na so we go dey sing "olopa ko le mu wa, odun lo'de..."

Bonab:
I hated Christmas as a kid. I lived with my wicked rich aunt that doesn't care about me. Christmas was a nightmare for me, as I was always busy cleaning the house everyday and washing plates.

Different visitors would come and i would serve them, worst is that my aunt would disgrace me in front of her visitors. It is a terrible memory for me, except for one particular Christmas that I was allowed to visit my village with my parents.

I am free now, financially stable but still not excited about Christmas. That's why I always try to make it memorable for my kids.

Sapasenator:
Where is that Aunt now?

arkad139:
seen. Thanks very much sir. God bless you more nd more

Yemike:
Government workers CICS. There's a particular amount you contribute to the purse every month and you can borrow from there and it'll be deducted from your salary automatically every month.

Love800:
Thanks so much.

Is dis that other type of pension that companies do, that you can be withdrawing from it anytime you want. Dis one is different from the main pension. Am i right?

Yemike:
It's not pension. Just like it's name the workers in an organization cooperated to be contributing money in a purse and when you've shown that you're dedicated towards the course you can apply to borrow money from the purse with little interest. Many workers cannot afford to buy rice, chicken, clothes from their salary so in order to make it easier the cooperative society will now buy all these things from the purse and it's members will now be applying for them. It's a win win for everybody, the man gets to act like a father at home, the society makes profit as the prices of it's goods is slightly higher.

Bonab:
I hated Christmas as a kid. I lived with my wicked rich aunt that doesn't care about me. Christmas was a nightmare for me, as I was always busy cleaning the house everyday and washing plates.

Different visitors would come and i would serve them, worst is that my aunt would disgrace me in front of her visitors. It is a terrible memory for me, except for one particular Christmas that I was allowed to visit my village with my parents.
Chai sorry oo
I am free now, financially stable but still not excited about Christmas. That's why I always try to make it memorable for my kids.

Sirchiboy:
.
Uncle my 5k oooo.

BABANGBALI:
I wasn't born in Nigeria

We4all:
Okay. So, tell us your experience while growing up in Cotonou.