My view of Celebration as a Nigerian

After living in the United States for more than a decade now, I have come to realize that there is some sort of difference in the way some culture embrace their traditional celebrations. Being that we are all natural human beings, we are programmed to believe that festival or celebration should represent something that only brings happiness in a form of celebrating it. In Nigeria, from the teachings and practices of old folklore and history of the country, they believe that a festival should occur to celebrate anything that represents the living life. As a foreign born Nigeria, in the Benin Edo tribe, I have experienced and witnessed many different forms of Nigerian Festivals that celebrate the current situations in life from the spirit of competition to the to just a regular celebrate. Nigerians look at celebration festivities as an environment that brings happiness out of whatever situations we may come across in life. There is that sense of being alive and surviving through the tough world that makes us feels that everything happens for a reason, so why not celebrate?