You might be thinking about what most people associate with Rwanda – 1994’s horrific genocide – but today’s Rwanda is pristine, safe, and a moving place to spend the holidays for those who take no joy from the cold. In fact, right around Christmas week, the current “cold” rainy season (high 80s, lows in the 50s) should be finishing and the county will be going into the dry season.
Kigali, the nation’s capital, is thought by many to be the most pristine in on the continent. There are sidewalks nearly everywhere which will be filled with hundreds of thousands late on Christmas Eve as they make their way to church. Their beautiful prayers and songs will permeate the hills of the city where skyscrapers are going up, yet there are still micro-plots of land farmed for maize, beans, and cassava. Those goats, not used for their milk, will make it on to many a Christmas day barbeque. In the early afternoon on Christmas Day, traditional wood-charcoal fires will light up across the nation. Most will be three-stone fires, some of which will have a metal grate to support the bounty.
While Coca-Cola has raised a Christmas tree or two at roundabouts in town, there are few Christmas trees to be found in homes nor lofty childhood expectations of Santa Claus. Among the upper class that has been exposed to Christmas elsewhere, there will be gifts exchanged. But for most, this will be a day for relaxation, prayer, and brochettes. Grilled beef and goat, fried potatoes, and rice will be the centerpiece of most meals – for many families this will be one of the few days of the year when meat will be the part of the meal. There will also be isombe – mashed cassava leaves – and green bananas slowly cooked in tomato sauce. For a kick, brave family members will grab a bottle or tear dropper of Akabanga, an outrageously spicy piri-piri concoction of oil and birds’ eye chile that has become a national condiment.
