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Community Christmas celebrations in Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe in southern Africa, for instance, many people who live in the cities leave the built-up areas and travel back to their rural homes for large get-togethers involving extended families.
There is plenty of eating, drinking and merriment, as well as spending time with relatives people have not seen in months.
But the recipes on the table on December 24 and 25 are very different to those in Britain and other staples of Christmas here, like a tree and a heap of presents beneath it, are nowhere to be seen.
Corlina Katjangua said: “Christmas is one of the things that reminds me most of home. We start our preparation by doing lots and lots of shopping and then, if we live in the city, we all drive to the village.
At home in Zimbabwe, says Bianco Martine, Christmas begins with dramatic festivity. “Uncles and aunties and cousins, they will slaughter a cow and then after church, where we would go for prayer, we would play loud music, make dessert and dance.”
Baker and healthcare worker Martine grew up in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, the city of kings. Her father died when she was a baby. She was raised by her mother, a soldier, and her stepfather, a policeman, and her grandmother, who at 84, is still going strong. For Christmas, Martine’s grandmother makes umqombothi, a beer made from maize and sorghum that ferments for seven days.