By Glen Don.
HOW CORONA VIRUS CHANGED GREETING STYLE IN AFRICA.From curtseying crouching, handshaking to fist bumping COVID-19 changed every narrative in Africa's lifestyle.
Even though the effects of the corona virus seem to reduce and effects are minimal within Africa, the pandemic marks seem to be difficult to erase.
One of the corona-born culture is forms of greeting in Africa.
Through my cultural experience and interaction with individuals from different communities before 2019 when COVID-19 stormed the country, greetings were either handshaking, hugging, or curtseying.
Every cultural community had different ways of greetings albeit some forms are also religiously induced.
The corona virus pandemic have shown proof that change is inevitable and modernisation is real.
During the pandemic, one of the measures that were put in place to avoid the spread of the virus was the style of greeting.
This was so, as it was scientifically theorised that greetings facilitate the spread of the virus as most greetings were done through coming into contact with each other.
The only style that was minimally accepted by the government was fist bumping or jostling by elbow bumping if at all coming into contact was necessary among the participants.
This culture born by the corona virus pandemic however seems not to fade away as may be thought, as it persists among the individuals and within the various society.
Elbow and fist bumping have proved to stay even after the fact that the corona virus narrative is gradually reducing.
Today, a smaller number of people do handshake and most handshakes are within the millennials who least prove to cherish modernisation and the so-called 'civilisation.'
Being a youth, I have interactively engaged with adults and fellow youths alike. Some of the adults reluctantly give in to fist bumping rather they bring you opened palms meaning handshaking and they at times refuse to coil and make a fist to match mine, while others just give in.
To youths, fist bumping is a non-issue in fact, that is what rhymes with their current trend in terms of greeting. Youths willingly encounter your fisted right hand.
The right hand as well over time immemorial have been used as the hand of respect and it is usually the one to be used in greeting. Today, there is no problem to some people greeting them using left hand, it can be said that most important is hands coming to contact. I am a left hand person but when it comes to greeting I innately use my right hand, this is not the case with the present situation where I have numerously greeted people with my left hand side, though not intentional but those I greet are also not bothersome, what matter to them is hands coming into contact.
This is just a behavioural induced style, and if it persists, it won't be done away with in the near future and may perhaps form part of the tradition.
The current youths are the future generations, meaning if they fail to be culture conservative, then Africa must be ready to lose its cultural norms or rather lifestyle.
By Glen Don.
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