My Honor(Nigerian Independence Day)

Hannah Onoh
English 100
9/10/2011
                                                                                            My Honor

I have lost celebrating Nigeria in our traditional way.Even  though the Nigerian citizens here in America  still celebrate the 1st October, it’s not the same as the way it has been done back home.    It has been a great challenge for me to leave my country and try to adjust in another country. Living in America has changed some part of me that each time I think about it,I get the urge to go back to where I was born. I left my homeland two and half years ago, Since I moved here,things have been difficult for me because Chicago is so different from Nigeria and I feel like I have missed a lot of things.

   Celebrating the Independence Day was a part of me and the Nigerian culture.It  is usually done on the 1st  of October  because it marks the day Nigeria got their independence from the British in 1960. Since then, this particular day has  always been remembered, valued and celebrated by every Nigerian citizen. It is usually celebrated as a parade.

The way independence day is  been done in my country is quite different from independence day celebrated in the united states. I have always participated in this unique way of celebrating our freedom. Whether public or private schools, that day is always declared a school free day.  Each school usually organized groups of students to do a parade called “the march pass”, where students  stay in  three horizontal rows and marching a particular rhythm. This normally takes place in a big stadium but has been called that because it is the big space with or without soccer. Students hold their various school flags while marching to salute the Nigerian national flag which is green and white,A man/woman who is   referred to as the “chairman/chairwoman” always stands by the flag in correspondence to the salutation. This occasion is always done as a competition among the schools, so for this reason, each school struggles by rehearsing over and over again for some weeks to get the best salutation sign, which may be either raising their elbow or placing it on their forehead or any other interesting way they want to do it.

During the “march pass”, when the group of students reaches near the chairman/chairwoman, they have to turn their eyes right  to show respect and dignity.After they have passed couple of feet away from  him/her,their  eyes will be turned front again. I had so many experiences in doing this that I can recall the day my school won the award for having the best salutation sign, I felt like a hero even though I didn’t really save a life.In the U.S, I  have lost celebrating the independence day of the march pass.Each time I remember it, I always feel proud of myself and my country, and to regain my proudness I normally try to recite the Nigerian national anthem though I have forgotten some parts of it.

Having the experience of the march pas in Nigeria gave me the opportunity to meet and make new friends from other regions of the country. For most students,it was like sightseeing, because of the different color combination different schools had for their uniforms. Even though I am here in America, I will keep honoring my country’s pride and wouldn’t want this part of  me  to completely die off no matter how hard I try to adjust to the American ways.