Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
SMA
Monasao (Agenzia Fides) - In Central Africa, the month of December was marked by a series of important celebrations, such as Republic Day (December 1st) and, for the Christian community, Christmas and New Year celebrations between December 31st and January 1st. Father Michele tells us how the Pygmies of the Monasao Mission lived these special days.
"In Monasao there are many children. During the end-of-year celebrations, they go through the village asking for a sweet or something to eat after singing and wishing the family a happy new year," says Father Michele Farina, a Fidei donum missionary from the Italian diocese of Savona who lives and works among the Bayaka Pygmy people.
"In 2024 I celebrated my third Christmas in Monasao and if I had to choose a few words to sum up the way it is lived in our village, they would be simplicity and poverty. Thanks to these words that come to life here, Christmas in Monasao also extends to the rest of the year," continues the priest, who is associated with the Society of African Missions (SMA). "Half of our village is inhabited by Bayaka pygmies (see Fides, 18/4/2023), most of whom live in huts (called hutte) that look very similar to a manger. These are very simple huts that the Bayaka have built in the forest. They are a semi-nomadic people who move according to the season to hunt, their main occupation. Having the necessary wood and foliage, they can build their huts in a day. They are small, hemispherical and have a small entrance from which every morning and every evening all the members of the family, even ten people, come and go. In the evening, they light a small fire in the middle of the hut to keep warm and to ward off insects.” “
At Christmas, a small hut is also prepared in the church,” explains Father Michael, “in which the family of Nazareth is placed. The joy of this celebration characterizes the entire celebration in the church, with songs, dances and the donations in nature that people bring to the offertory. If the joy of meeting the Lord is so great every Sunday at Mass, then it is even greater at Christmas. There are not many things, just a few decorations made of simple drawings, scraps of paper and a few balloons hung on a string, a few palm branches and the hut with Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus transform the church to make Christmas even more solemn.”
“There is no big meal on Christmas Eve, no special lunch on December 25 for the families in Monasao, apart from the usual menu: cassava, coconut leaves, a piece of meat for a few privileged people...,” concludes the missionary. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 28/1/2025)
