Sudan: The Broken Christmas Manger

Christmas season is characterised by joy and happiness that comes from welcoming Jesus, which is why Christians prepare themselves for this occasion in the Advent season almost a month before Christmas Day, all in expectation of the newborn Jesus.

However, this Christmas in Sudan, Christians are filled with sadness as they face significant losses, including their homes, and the company of family and other loved ones, as the ongoing war between Sudanese Army Forces (SAF) and paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has left more than 7 million people displaced. For Christian Sudanese, their emotions are mixed with fear, hope and faith with some hoping to receive good news, similar to what the shepherds heard from the angels during the night when Jesus was born, bringing joy back to their faded hearts.

The churches of Sudan are now empty, and their bells will not ring this Christmas. The squares are supposed to be full of people moving around, choirs should be practising hymns pumping life by their harmonic voices and others are cleaning laugh happily. Christmas in Sudan has a unique taste that is unmatched anywhere else in the world. In Christmas, everything becomes new even the songs that have been sung for years. The decorated Christmas tree in the corner with baby Jesus manger, the smell of delicious baked goods, and the carols of Christmas are details that will not be found in Christian homes in Sudan this year.

Reverend Father Mathew Alexander, a 33-year-old Orthodox priest served a church in Sharq Al Neel locality in Khartoum before the war started. Describing the joy of Christmas Day, he said, ‘We go through four Sundays in preparation for Christmas not just to welcome Jesus but also renew our hearts for the new baby born in new joyful and pure hearts.’ Now, the war has taken away all the joy and replaced it with sorrow. ‘Sudan has gone through two types of loses – material and emotional – affecting all aspects of life. People lost their loved ones and properties, and were displaced from their homes and neighbourhoods. Christians in Sudan will mark a significant milestone this Christmas with the loss of all these things,’ he said.

‘Christmas is not just about buying new clothes and adorning our homes with beautiful decorations, but it is also a sign of a new beginning when we consider the miraculous conception of Christ by the Virgin Mary,’ said Daniel Magdi, a 23-year-old Sudanese Coptic and biomedical engineer who recently moved to Juba, South Sudan due to the war. According to him, the meaning of Christmas strongly remains as it is despite of all these losses, seeing the current situation in Sudan as an opportunity to gain an understanding of life’s meaning, live humbly, and begin again as a new year is approaching.

Many are waiting for the war to end in Sudan and life there to return to normal. That was evident in Magdi’s words when he said, ‘We are confident that, just as the war started in a moment, everything in Sudan will be okay in a moment, so we will be able to return home, rebuild it, and celebrate the coming Christmas feasts’.

As Magdi believes, Christmas is an opportunity to regenerate and start again and that the meaning of Christmas is still constant. ‘Christmas is the biggest feast people celebrate yearly, no matter how hard the situation is. Each and every single one of us decided to live Christmas as a way to bring joy to our hearts in a way or another,’ said Kassandra Sawiris, a 26-year-old Sudanese Coptic doctor and entrepreneur. This Christmas season, like many other Sudanese Christian, Sawiris will go through many changes in new country and environment, with her family scattered, and the worries about Sudan; but despite all this she still has hope that all challenges will end one day, and the most important thing for the moment is understanding the war and learning from it.

Unlike Magdi and Sawiris, Martha Abdullah, a 24-year-old Sudanese Christian who fled fighting in Khartoum to El Gadarif State, Christmas has become distorted. ‘I do not know how this Christmas will look like, with whom I will spend it, and even I do not know will it pass in peace?’ she said. Her words express the feeling of many Sudanese Christians, who are still in Sudan for a variety of reasons. They fear the future and are in anticipation of what events will the future bring. What Abdullah is hoping for is a ceasefire so everyone can enjoy Christmas and be able to share the Christmas joy with her Muslim countrymen and women as she used to before the war. ‘I hope there is a ceasefire or truce, giving the Sudanese Christians the opportunity to live the joy of Christmas, feel safe and share that sense with our Muslim brothers and sisters. This is a seed that spreads love among people under these circumstances,’ she said.

Prior to the war in Sudan, Christian schools had a treasured tradition known as the annual Christmas carols. This event included many songs that echoed with hope and joy to meet the newborn Jesus. But one of them is now describing the state of all Sudanese Christian from inside and outside Sudan with chorus that says, ‘I’m dreaming of white Christmas just like the ones I used to know.’ This deep longing for a white Christmas goes beyond the literal meaning of white snow, extending into a longing for safety and peace in the midst of turbulent and dark days, a longing for those days where they used to share happiness and be joyfully united in one place with Christians and Muslims families greeting each other warmly and exchanging gifts. The song’s chorus perfectly captures the dreams and aspirations of Sudanese Christians in the midst of dark Christmas. 

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Butros Nicola Bazia is a 22-year-old South Sudanese medical student, who recently moved to Juba due to the ongoing war. He has a deep interest in art and culture. He works as assistant community manager and programme coordinator at Scenius Hub, and is the former radio producer at the University of Khartoum Radio.