Not that I am not religious, nor am I superstitious but just a common person like you and I (just a villager as usual). The problem is that, we the villagers and the town dwellers have a lot in diverse (not in common) and therefore, we can neither behave nor act in unison. Much as the town or city dwellers literary has “Christmas” or “new year” everyday; the villagers have the same just once a year. It is such differences that make the difference between the town and village holiday celebrations. Many people celebrate the New Year ’s Day out of fashion rather than any other reason. Christians, Moslems and earthiest marking these days with the same zeal. It is quite amazing how much the Far East looks forward to the coming of both of these days even when from the religious point of view they mean nothing, but from the economic point of view, they mean everything! China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc are some of the countries that manufacture the various assortments of Christmas and end of year decorations and yet, they have quite a different end of year calendar (according to their faith)! This goes without saying that, when a neighbour is in sorrow, likewise, you join him, if the reverse is true, and then why not join him too? Way back in the days of MINUAR (United Nations Assistance Mission to Rwanda), when the “green crisp notes (Clinton Dollars) were the main currency of status (those who possessed them possessed the means). The coming of the “Bonane”(Bon Année) was such a big deal that, we all had to save something to be deemed worth the names we are called (any man not celebrating Bonane was not worththe name he is called), we made sure that, we either had our own hard earned cash or had a “godfather” that had the same if you did not! In my case, Gafa a.k.a. Gafaranga, was always there for me and a lot more broke guys that wanted to have their throat washed. Who wouldn’t? Would you carry a “dirty” throat over to the next year or you would rather have it “washed” clean? Don’t even say anything, you say it best when you say nothing at all, I can clearly hear what all of you are saying! As was always the case, the date was 31st December (irrespective of the year) on that evening, Gafa picked us up in his 4X4, where we were heading to, only God knew! As long as we knew what we were going for, where we went did not matter at all! As far as I’m concerned, all I needed was a place populated with all tribes of canned beers (consuming bottled beers was a preserve for the classless). In those days, Car Wash a.k.a. Roasters hadn’t been conceived yet; wewent to likes of Kigali Night (near present day Cadillac), PanAfric Hotel, a joint in Rugunga another in Kicukiro (that had something like a dream in its name), then to the so called Imigina (near the Satade Amahoro) and a host many more (can’t remember them all). All that time, we were either finding a party in progress or leaving one in progress! Since I want driving, I did not have anything to worry about; by the way, the law on drinking and not driving hadn’t been enacted yet. Lots of people drunk and drove and as a result, many drove off the roads into the next world! Maybe that is why Bonana was a great deal then! mfashumwana@fastmail.fm
