Christmas in NIgeria and Banger | KNOCK-OUTS (1)

It was a bright sunny day (December 2002) when I and some childhood friends where out to have some fun. Serious fun! Were we playing 'Catcher', 'Hide and ‘Seek', 'I-Call-On', 'Suwe', or 'Ten-Ten'? No! We were throwing knock-outs! Amongst us was this dude, Yemi, the eldest amongst us, whom just joined us to prove he is good at it. You know those awkward moments when the Big-Boyz makes you feel incompetent. Yeah, that was the feeling. I remember throwing a three-sound banger (a small fireworks that explodes three times), which blew only twice. Leaving one undone. Yemi, in a bid to impress us picked my failed three-sound banger and a charcoal (which my mum used in cooking jollof rice) so as to 'lit' the banger. He held the banger at his right hand and the charcoal at his left; then moved them up to his mouth to blow air. Bingo! The coal fire caught with the ‘gun-powder’ in the banger. It worked! but at the detriment of yemi’s finger. After the blast from the banger the next thing we saw was BLOOD! Yemi’s finger got hurt through the blast. He’s fine now. Last I checked he was abroad. I couldn’t stop laughing because to me it was just so funny, mostly the look on his face, which I will never forget. I had wished for such experience again to no avail, and that’s because the Christmas spirit in Nigeria is dying (for those who wants ‘my head’, at least from the Banger aspect of it) Back then we start hearing banger from September and everyone (mostly kids) gets all the sweat feeling of christmas. But why is it dead today? Is it because of the police? Or all kids are now grown-ups? Or lack of interest? I believe it has to do with the economic situation and money-pursuing mindset we have being facing in the country. The question is: How can we get the Christmas spirit from September(s)?