I recently interviewed our housegirl, Martha, to get information about Christmas traditions in Swaziland.
These are some of her comments.
"Oh, the Swazi's tradition is not with Jesus. We learned about Jesus from the missionaries.
"Now we celebrate by singing carols and acting out the nativity and giving gifts to remember God gave us His only Son, the greatest gift.
"Merry Christmas greeting is usually in the English words 'Merry Christmas.' But if you are speaking to a child who only understands Siswati, you would say 'Mkhulu Christmas.'
She's not sure, nor am I, whether Mkhulu ("mmm KOO loo") refers to God or Father Christmas (Santa).
She says traditional, cultural learning does not include anything about Jesus or God.
She and her family learned about Jesus and Christmas from the missionaries.
"The Nazarenes came to our mountain village when I was just a small child. My grandfather and many members of our family accepted Jesus. I remember him sitting with his head raised up, looking toward the heavens, saying to me, 'My child, God is good.'"
Today Martha is one of the strongest Christians I know.
So basically all Christmas traditions come from Christian missionaries and the western world, because witchdoctors and jungle religions do not know who Jesus is.
It's why we are here.
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2 comments:
Mrs. Jean,
please pray for my mother. She had a MRI done and they found something out of place. So, now she has to see a neurologist today at 12:00. Please pray for a good report and a clean bill of health! Thank you!
jamie
i believe there is nothing too hard for our God. of course we will pray. and we'll keep on praying until she is given that clean bill of health!
in fact, i'll have our martha pray too...she's really in touch with the Great Physician.
jean
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