BREAKING NEWS, Business
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With a few days to Christmas, the fever associated with the season’s festivities is hanging everywhere
| By Anayo Ezugwu | Dec. 23, 2013 @ 01:00 GMT
CHRISTMAS is here again and the frenzies of the season are being felt all around. At almost every turn street corner loud speakers blare out Christmas tunes, banners dot major streets announcing dates of carnivals, corporations and public buildings are adorned with the Christmas colours of red, white and green, while major markets are abuzz with end-of-year shopping bazaar.
Christmas always comes with high expectations from friends, family members and well-wishers. Individuals use the opportunity to take time off to reflect on the passing year and visit loved ones. Arguably, the most celebrated event in the world, Christmas comes with a lot of festivities. Everybody celebrates it, which explains why both the young and old proudly wear and decorate their surroundings with emblems of the season.
In Lagos, shops, malls and corporate buildings are adorned in Christmas motifs. Zenith Bank, for instance, has beautifully decorated the stretch of Ajose Adeogun round about in Victoria Island with various Christmas ornaments and lightings. Apart from helping to create the mood for the season, it is a beautiful sight at night, when the decoration lights are on.
Most residential areas and streets in Lagos, are lit with Christmas lights in the countdown to the carnival night, where residents, neighbours and well-wishers gather to dine and wine in a convivial atmosphere listening to either live bands or deejays dishing out music till the early hours of the morning. Across the city, children are kept happy and busy with trips to Father Christmas where Santa Claus presents them with gifts. They are also dressed in some of the paraphernalia of their Father Christmas. Some schools even have a dummy of Santa Claus erected within its compound.
People are also moving in droves, with many of them doing window shopping, while traders lure prospective buyers to their wares. This is evident in the high traffic seen in most markets during this time. Major markets and many streets are already wearing new looks and the euphoria is hot in the air, with many event centres advertising special offers for the season.
Apart from the Christmas season ushering in glad tidings and pleasant memories of the birth of Jesus Christ, the period which is known for festivities and exchange of gifts will no doubt remind Lagosians about the havoc caused by fire crackers’ explosion on Boxing Day, December 26, 2012 at the Jankara market in Lagos Island.
With the indiscriminate display of these proscribed items, one wonders at the level of compliance to the restriction placed on the importation of the products by the government as walking through streets revealed that fire crackers were on display conspicuously to attract would-be buyers.
The celebration of Christmas particularly in Lagos cannot be complete without the use of fire crackers and mild explosives. It is thrown around and used to usher in the New Year. In fact, it is synonymous with Christmas celebration and this explains why many traders invest hugely on its sales because of its high turnover rate.
Tags: Christmas Father Christmas Santa Claus Zenith Bank
