source

source

It's always a great pity I feel everytime I realize that for a great lot of people, the Christmas celebrations is always about the 25th of December and that once the 25th ends the whole celebration ends with it! Until the 1st of January.

So many times I've heard people say things like "Oh man, all the hustling and bustling in the name of Christmas celebrations! I just can't wait for this long awaited 25th to come and go so that we could all rest, knowing we're done."

Whenever I hear this I feel the pity the Biblical Noah must've felt when he was setting out with his ark and looking at the other fellows who had refused to take refuge in his ark against the oncoming flood that destroyed the world.

source

So, maybe for some few cities, the Christmas celebrations take place from the few days near Christmas up to the days after it and then comes the new year celebrations, this is great, cool, alright, when it is like this.
But do you know for so many other cities, states, people and geographical locations the Christmas celebrations are only meant for the 25th, and once after the 25th that's the end? The next time they celebrate would at most be the 1st of January?

Yeah, I heard you scream "Awful! " that's right, awful! For these people, they might be a few demonstrations and muscle flexing in the name of celebrations before and/or after 25th but their main celebrations are usually on the 25th and that's all! The days before and after Christmas is always dropdown boring! Or close to that.

If the place you stay in isn't so deprived that's a good thing. But if you live in boring places like that I want you to know that me and the entire brethren of my Church are praying for you.

(source: Africancomedians.com)

Having given these words of encouragement, here we go to the business of the day which is that, In Calabar Christmas doesn't end on the 25th, after the 25th there is still so much to look forward to, because there is:

The Calabar Carnival! Africa's Biggest Street Party!!

Please note that I'm not the one who style the Calabar carnival as Africa's Biggest Street Party, but it has been so styled by higher bodies which have to do with things like this. Even Wikipedia styles it like this

Leggo!

You must have heard of the Calabar carnival, but if you ain't you're not too late.
Calabar is the capital of Cross River State, Nigeria, and it's a very important city in Nigeria. It was the first capital of Nigeria back in the colonial era.

Every December since 2004 there a carnival is held here. The carnival has gone through a lot of improvements, changes, etc, and right now it has taken the following form:
It goes on for 3 days, usually from the 27th of December to the 29th.
On the 27th we do have the Bikers' Carnival where there is a great display of stunts and thrill by professional bikers and general bad ass riders.

On the 28th is the main carnival, where about 8 huge and organized group of dancers put up a colourful display of colours, fashion, costumes and, most importantly; dance! All the display is carried out in the streets from the morning till about the next morning! People watch, walk around, bump into old friends and foes, meet foreigners, have great times and the feeling of excitement in the air is just K.O standard.

Then finally on the 29th we have the International Carnival. Where about 30 countries come to the UJ Esuene Stadium in Calabar and pour their best colours, costumes and dances into a cup for us to drink up. This year we had:
USA, Mexico, Brazil, Kenya, France, Ethiopia, Ghana, Ukraine, Croatia, Italy, Tanzania, South Africa, etc! It was too much fun, I tell you.

I was born in Calabar and I've spent 95 percent of my life in Calabar. And safe to say I was in Calabar for the carnival this year! I attended all three days of the carnival and I intend to share some carnival love down here on you guys on Steemit. I've got pictures and I've got links to more pictures!

But come on, y'all, we can't really be in a hurry, we've got a lot of great photographers here on Steemit and being a Steemian you must have come across really amazing photos here so I hesitate to show you what I've snapped, for the avoidance of a flag, lol.

But really, I've got poor shots, and I unfortunately lost some of my pictures recently and I was also in the middle of so much fun at some points that I forgot to snap. But rest assured, I'll present a whole lot of great pictures to you all from all three days of the carnival.

Day 1: The Bikers Carnival 27th Dec.

On this day I had the poorest shots ever and wouldn't like to annoy with me all. Plus I lost some somewhat proper shots. But not to worry, I've got some referenced ones you can see:

source

source

And I've got links too, please check these links out for more, they're really interesting especially no. 5.

1
2
3
4
5

Day 2: The Main Carnival 28th Dec.

And here is a plastic bus filled with plastic people (zooming gon' help):
It was made to move in the streets.

And here is a wooden slave ship with wooden slaves in it, the ship was made to move also.

But then, something was missing, and I was getting upset about it. And it seems this bro over here was feeling my pains too:

But it was only a matter of time and I found the missing ingredient. What, you ask? Hell, some good old cleavages!!

Damn, I had to go grab me my own share of the cake. The best one pls..

I wonder what this life would have been like without some reliable old cleavages

That's me, in case you were wondering.

Here is an African (Nigerian) spirit masquerade, that used to be a very scary thing in Ancient times , but now it's posing in pictures with suckers:

This was my companion for the day (the darling who was with me on this post)

Later on it got dark

But there came some booty calls to brighten the darkness:

You needed to have seen them shake.

So, that's all I have for Day 2, you can find a lot more here, they're really great if you keep loading more.
And it's even better here too

Day 3: The International Carnival:
I could not find any photos online for this day, and I keep wondering why.
This day, security was so tight and you were not allowed anywhere close to the foreigners, you could only watch them from afar. Only professional journalists were allowed to go closer and snap. Maybe one day after I've killed it more here and @kus-knee gives me a steemcard then I can print it out and show them security personnel in charge. Or maybe one day when steemit is so mainstream, maybe I can talk my way in.

Till then, thank you very much for reading.

More posts by the same author:

1. Funny African Customs #1

2. Oh How I Love Me Some Swim

3. My Little Brothers

4. My Adventure, On A Quest For Good Music

5. The Type of Girls You Should And Should Not Date