Steemit Engagement Challenge S6/W6 - What will You do to Celebrate the New Year in 2023, and how do you typically do that each Year?"

The new year is fast approaching while some parts of the world have made it to 2023 already due to their time zones, some are still a few hours away. This applies to Nigeria, the nation is just about 11hrs away from the time. I will like to share with you today how the new year is celebrated from my side.

The new year celebration is one of the prominent celebrations of the year in this part of the world, most importantly in my household. It's a time of a lot of merriments because Christmas would have put us in the celebration mood and entering the new year is just like continuing the jollification. I always travel back to the village during this time and I'm here already for the year.

One of the first ways I start the new year celebration is by attending the church, for the new year eve, to enjoy a great time of thanksgiving, music, drama, and even prayer sessions in preparation for the new year ahead. And when the time hits 00:00, we spend the time congratulating each other joyfully.

During the first few hours of the day when it was midnight, I usually spend reasonable time sending out messages to friends and even make some phone calls to congratulate them. The custom would remain like this even this time, we can't take it away from the picture.

The next morning around 10:00 has always been the schedule for the new year's church service and it's the same for this year and for the fact that it's Sunday, it's a double celebration for us. The time at the church has always been a wonderful time to connect with some friends we haven't seen for some time and after the church service, we'd take pictures. Let me share one of the most recent memories of such.

_{Picture with a new couple}

The image above was that of me and a newly wedded friend with his wife, the picture was taken after the church service on the 1st of January 2022. The couple got married on the 25th of December 2022 which means the picture was taken just 8 days after their wedding day. That said, more pictures are taken at home immediately after the service, with friends and other people in the neighborhood.

_{Picture with my neighbor's kids (most recent memory)}

My family has always utilized this time of the year to give out cooked food to other people in the neighborhood. Mostly, jollof rice has always been the major meal mom cooks for distribution, served with meat (goat meat mostly) and varieties of carbonated drinks. I have no recent image of the food but below is the image of drinks dad has gotten for the celebration that starts in a few hours.

_Drinks

For the family which is just my parents and me, pounded yam and melon soup are often prepared specially for lunch on new year's day. The meal is not something we eat often because it's energy-consuming to pound yam manually before it's softened for eating the right way. Let me show you what pounded yam looks like.

_{Pounded Yam and Melon Soup | Image Source: Wikimedia Commons}

Apart from the meal distribution in the neighborhood, we often invite friends to join us for home celebrations, mostly served jollof rice and drinks while we use the opportunity to chat with friends we haven't seen in a long while. In addition, my first few hours of the day (at midnight ) are associated with taking some fried meats and drinks, lol, I can't get rid of this custom, it's happening in a bit as well.

It's not only about my family during the new year family, but we also celebrate with other families outside our home gathering. I utilize this period to visit friends and dine with them in love. Numerous families would invite you to come around and technically, you can't visit all.

One of the few friends I can't miss visiting his house is Edward, we have been friends for a long time as early as my junior secondary school days and we attended the same university even though he was a year ahead of me. He studied computer engineering while I studied agricultural engineering.

It has always been a pleasure visiting him and eating at his place, eat with all confidence knowing you are in safe hands. The last edition of the celebration at his place comes with feasting on pepper soup catfish and red wine. I'm definitely visiting Edward tomorrow again and one other friend who sent an invitation from his wife.

As regards decoration, there is always a central decoration for the village which passes the message about the festive season but for my family, we don't really make special decorations.

In conclusion, the new year celebration brings us together from different parts of the country to celebrate with our loved ones as such we share love through giving out meals within the neighborhood, hosting gatherings, and visiting other gatherings hosted by friends. It's always a time to begin the year with a happy state of mind as we look forward to a prosperous year ahead.

It's a pleasure penning down my last Steemit Engagement Challenge entry of the year. I will like to use this opportunity to appreciate everyone that made this year a great one for me on the platform, the Steemit team, colleagues, and friends in and outside Nigeria, you are all wonderful, thank you! And I hereby invite my friends, @pelon53, @xkool24, and @inspiracion to take part in the contest.