Father Anand ends his column with the traditional expression of welcome addressed to newborns and their mothers. A greeting that the Ivorian Church also uses for the birth of Jesus
December is a very special month: for some it is cold, here it is hot; for some it is a period of great expense, for others of celebration. It’s the last month of the year, but it can also be the beginning of a new story. And for us? It’s not a month like the others. It is a truly special time, because we celebrate the birth of Jesus, an event that is deeply felt in our village of Ouassadougou.
Here, every time a child is born a very typical expression is used: «Mo Ni Bah». Which has a double meaning: it means “welcome” to the child who is the cause of our joy; but it is also a message of gratitude for the mother too: “Thank you for giving us this child.”
Whenever there is a birth in the village, the happiness is great. Everyone visits the newborn, presents their best wishes to the mother and the whole family. In our rural Ivorian context, the child who is born is part of the large extended family that is the village. So everyone celebrates this occasion. Thanks to birth, in fact, the family becomes larger and stronger. While death makes us all smaller and more fragile.
For this reason, everyone goes to greet the family and the new mother, wishing «Mo Ni Bah» and bringing gifts: they are very simple things, such as the soap needed to wash the child, new clothes to dress him and other small useful things.
The expression «Mo Ni Bah» has also become the heritage of the Catholic Church of Ivory Coast. On the occasion of Christmas, we use it to address Mary, the mother of Jesus, telling her «Marie Mo Ni Bah», which means: «Thank you Maria! It is thanks to you that we have a child.” But he is not just any newborn, he is Emmanuel, a child who will save us and who will be at the origin of our redemption and our everlasting joy. The same wish means “Welcome Jesus!”. Welcome, not only to our world, but also to our families and our personal lives. Here, then, is our wish for this Christmas: a wish of thanks to Mary who gave us a brother and of welcome to Emmanuel, who will remain with us.
For my part, I take this opportunity to convey my greetings to all of you, at the end of this year spent together. And I add a special wish for a Holy Christmas and a happy year 2024!
This issue concludes with Father Anand Krishna Mikkili’s column from Ouassadougou, Ivory Coast. Next year the baton will pass to Sister Roberta Pignone, missionary of the Immaculate in Bangladesh.