Africa is blessed with over a thousand major languages spoken by millions of people in the continent’s 54 countries. Some languages are mutually intelligible as they share similar words and cross-national boundaries due to inter-marriages and similar geographical locations.
Christmas is not an African festival but it was adopted into many cultures after the European invasion by former colonial masters Portugal, the Netherlands, and Britain who imposed the Christian religion on the traditional people.
December 25 is marked as the birthday of Jesus Christ by Christians and it comes with the greeting Merry Christmas. The greeting has been Africanized and here are 25 ways of saying Merry Christmas in Africa as documented by whychristmas.com.
- Afrikaans (South Africa, Namibia) – Geseënde Kersfees
- Akan (Ghana, Ivory Coast, Benin) – Afishapa
- Amharic (Ethiopia) – Melikam Gena! (መልካም ገና!)
- Ashanti/Asante/Asante Twi (Ghana) – afehyia pa
- Chewa (Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe) – Moni Wa Chikondwelero Cha Kristmasi
- Dagbani (Ghana) – Ni ti Burunya Chou
- Edo (Nigeria) – Iselogbe
- Ewe (Ghana, Togo) – Blunya na wo
- Fula/Fulani (Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Chad, Sudan, Togo, Guinea, Sierra Leone) – Jabbama be salla Kirismati
- Hausa (Niger, Nigeria, Ghana, Benin, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Togo) – barka dà Kirsìmatì
- Ibibio (Nigeria) – Idara ukapade isua
- Igbo/Igo (Nigeria, Equatorial Guinea) – E keresimesi Oma
- Kinyarwanda (Rwanda, Uganda, DR Congo) – Noheli nziza
- Lingala (DR Congo, Rep Congo, Central African Republic, Angola) – Mbotama Malamu
- Luganda (Uganda) – Seku Kulu
- Ndebele (Zimbabwe, South Africa) – Izilokotho Ezihle Zamaholdeni
- Shona (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana) – Muve neKisimusi
- Soga/Lasoga (Uganda) – Mwisuka Sekukulu
- Somali (Somalia, Djibouti) – Kirismas Wacan
- Sotho (Lesotho, South Africa) – Le be le keresemese e monate
- Swahili (Tanzania, Kenya, DR Congo, Uganda) – Krismasi Njema / Heri ya Krismasi
- Tigrinya (Ethiopia and Eritrea) – Ruhus Beal Lidet
- Xhosa/isiXhosa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho) – Krismesi emnandi
- Yoruba (Nigeria, Benin) – E ku odun, e ku iye’dun
- Zulu (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Swaziland) – UKhisimusi omuhle
This article by Ismail Akwei was first published on face2faceafrica.com
Ismail Akwei 