Dancing: Celebration Part 3

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Spraying the dancer with cash in appreciation of his skill.

No Party without Dancing

I can’t imagine a Nigerian party without dancing. Often the guests are the dancers. But for an event like our anniversary, we also had professional dancers who entertained us.

One Nigerian custom, among many that I love, often accompanies dancing. It’s called ‘spraying’. I found an interesting article about it, written by a Nigerian lawyer.

When dancers are especially entertaining, guests ‘spray’ them with cash. To spray a dancer, you can either stick bills on the forehead or body of the dancer as I’m doing in the picture. The bills are are gathered up by an assistant.

Sometimes the guests simply pull out a packet of bills and spray them, one by one, around the dancer or dancers.

I couldn't resist joining the dancers.

I couldn’t resist joining the dancers.

When I danced, I was sprayed while Beth gave me advice. Then when Clem and I danced together, we were sprayed even more generously.

When I counted the money after the party, I was surprised to find that we were given more than 50,000 Naira – about $275!

Beth and Sam joined the dancers with great enthusiasm. It was such fun to watch them!

I think the professional dance troupe had a good time too.

Beth and Sam dancing

Beth and Sam love to dance. Here they joined the professionals, Beth first and then Sam!

 

 

I’ve loved sharing our anniversary celebration with you.

Next time I’ll tell you more about the elections coming up on February 14 in Nigeria.

In case you want a head start, here’s an interesting report on what some feel may be a decisive factor in the elections.

And I just heard on PBS Newshour about new attacks by Boko Haram. I’ll share that disturbing news too.

 

 

 

 

Author: Catherine Onyemelukwe

Author, blogger, speaker. Born in New York, grew up in mid west United States, lived in Nigeria for 24 years, back in U.S. since 1986. Advocate for racial justice.

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