ST AUGUSTINE'S MASOTSHENI ? IS IT JEALOUSY OR JUST BEING TERRITORIAL?

THE CHRISTMAS TREE CELEBRATION - ISIHLAHLA SIKA KHISIMUZI

The lighter moments have always characterized the village of St Augustine's Masotsheni . Laughter is , indeed , the best medicine , I'm sure , BhutiZweli - MaThousand will agree with me . We have not been short of village celebrations either , Easter and Christmas times would , every year , be decorated with various celebrations , be it weddings , football tournaments , music competitions . The Christmas Tree Celebrations occupied the last position in the series .

One of the beautiful things about living in a small village , is that , everyone knows everyone . In Ireland , Everyone knows everyone else" , is the standard formula , where in some regions even dogs are interbred . Interestingly , this could be said about my village also . Everyone knows everyone , it's like , the whole community is one big family . Small communities embrace their community events , and are usually very fond of them .

The small village of St Augustine's , Masotsheni fits in all of the above descriptions . The Christmas Tree Festival at the end of each year was indeed an epitome of the beautiful life that my village has always possessed . The Christmas tree festival , ISIHLAHLA SIKAKHISIMUZI , in Zulu , was without any doubt , the very best ever community event to wind up the year , in a very special way .
The Christmas Tree Festival ,was always held at St Augustine's High School hall , which was in our village .
This venue was ideal , in that, all extra facilities that were essential , like ablution facilities , were all there . The school would be closed for the December holidays , it was the most perfect venue .
This event provided an opportunity for all members of our community to entertain themselves , and the culmination of this event , would be the exchanging of Christmas gifts . St Augustine's , Masotsheni village is predominantly Christian , but not everyone there is a Christian , so what was good about this festival , was that it embraced everyone in the village , it was a community festival in the true sense , "everyone felt at home".

This is how this special festival was structured ; the event itself would take place later in the day after church services and Christmas family lunches , on Christmas day .
The organizing committee would be in charge of preparations . The Christmas Tree would be erected on the stage of the hall . As the people arrive , those with musical items to render and those with presents to exchange with their friends and loved ones , would be registered . The presents , clearly marked with their recipient's names and the sender's names , would be hanged on the Christmas tree depending on their size , while others would be placed under the tree .
Once the registrations were completed , the event would start in earnest , by this time the hall would have been filled to capacity . The program director , would then take over , and " steer the ship" , as it were , allowing various musical groups to mesmerize the audience with sweet melodies . Some groups would leave you wondering , why on earth , didn't they take their craft to the next level , sing professionally or record their music , for goodness sake .
The presentation of gifts would be done between intervals throughout the event , and messages of love , caring and assurance , would characterize , the expression notes that were written on various presents . All presents would be read out with recipients expected to fetch them from the front . A very special event indeed , each year's event would just be better than the one before .