TOPIC 3: LEISURE

TOPIC 3: LEISURE

Leisure refers to that time when a person is not involved in his or her routine work or professional duties. It is time when a person is free from work and free to do what he likes. Leisure activities must not be tiresome.

Important to note about leisure

We have active leisure. This is when an individual is fully participating in a leisure activity like playing football or dancing.

We have passive leisure. This is when an individual is just entertained.

For example sitting in a hall while watching a film or listening to music.

Passive leisure is not completely passive. One who watches a play cannot be said to be completely passive because he gets excited, jumps up and down, claps, laughs or cries.

The needs of various people cannot be met by the same leisure activities.

People who do manual work tend to go in for passive leisure which relaxes their bodies while those who do mental jobs tend to go in for active leisure such as jogging so as to ease their mental fatigue.

vi)     A person who earns a living as a professional musician or footballer needs some other forms of leisure because when he is singing or boxing he is not at     leisure but at work. 

Is Leisure Important For Us?

Yes, if leisure is well handled it is so helpful and valuable.

It gives man a break from work. Man is not a machine, he needs leisure time to rest, relax his body and regain energy for the following day’s work. Note that even machines are given rest. Then how about man?

Leisure time affords us the opportunity to get into contact with new people. This helps to create new relationships in addition to those we create at our places of work. Note that even old relationships can best be strengthened during leisure time.   

There are many ways in which we can serve those in need, one of them being leisure. During our free time, we can offer practical help to the needy such as washing clothes for the old.

During the time when we are working, we can face tensions and frustrations. So, we need leisure time to ease these tensions and restore us to our good moods.

Leisure time affords us the opportunity to move around, make tours and explore the world around us. Important discoveries can be made during this time.

Leisure gives us an opportunity to discover, exploit and develop our talents. For instance at school, a child can develop his talent of playing football that would otherwise remain hidden if he weren’t exposed.

Leisure time is a valuable source of income to a number of people in the leisure industry. Such people as hotel owners, theatre owners, basket weavers and so on earn a living from leisure. Besides that, the actors, gatekeepers and so on also get income by organising suitable leisure activities for others.

Leisure time is for personal enjoyment, excitement and pleasure. It enables man to enjoy life while drinking, singing, dancing and so on.

It promotes spiritual growth in the sense that a person gets time to pray, read spiritual literature and preach the gospel.

It helps to strengthen family relationships. This is time when the working mother and father come together with their children and other family members. They chat, crack jokes, advise each other; eat and drink together. The saying goes ‘a family which eats together keeps together’

It gives a person an opportunity to think about his/her past mistakes and plan for the future.

During leisure tune we can promote our cultures. ‘Ibis can mainly be done through African music, dance and drama. The good cultural values can be passed on from one generation to another through leisure time.

Through leisure activities, we are able to gain knowledge about various things. Such activities as debates, tours and so on are very educational.

Leisure time is the mother of all inventions, innovations and discoveries.

During free time, people get a chance to exercise their imaginative powers. Through imagination, important discoveries have been made.

During leisure time, we learn to listen to others, to share, to be cooperative and appreciate each other.

Leisure helps a person to keep physically fit through making exercises such as jogging, jumping, athletics and so on. This in turn makes a person healthy.

Leisure reveals the person. It helps you to know yourself better and- to discover the people, ideas and talents one has. So, leisure is you since it reveals what you are- and what you want.

Leisure reveals the boredom created by monotonous work and helps a person to suspend or forget his problems for a while.

Leisure time can be used to join clubs like boy scouts and girl guides, rotary clubs, etc. Through these, we learn to be disciplined and to help others especially the needy.

Leisure in traditional African Society

Our ancestors were very realistic people. It is true that most of their time was taken up by work but still, they observed some moments of leisure. Leisure was valued and closely integrated in African lives. It was looked at as a rhythm of life that is, Africans realised the need to work and rest. Africans spend their free time in the following ways:

Beer parties.

Men would work during the day but when time for evening comes, they would come together and drink local beers. They co-operated in providing for this beer. In some tribes, each evening would be spent at the home of a different elder. Beer drinking was valued so much because of the following reasons:

Socially, it brought people together to share a drink with each other. Hence beer drinking provided an opportunity to develop and strengthen inter-personal relationships.

It provided entertainment to the people in the sense that beer drinking was always accompanied by singing, laughing and dancing.

In away, beer drinking was a source of nourishment because it was made out of food stuffs- such as millet, sorghum, yams, bananas etc. In particular, the dregs from local brew were believed to provide extra sexual power to men.

Through beer drinking, Africans appeased their ancestors mainly because all beers were shared with these ancestors.

Taking evening beers helped people to kill boredom.

Also it helped to console people who were in problems.

It promoted the traditional African virtues of sharing and co-operation.

Preparing the beers was done communally as well as drinking it.

It was a source joy and pleasure.

Discussions were held during the drinking parties and solutions to difficult problems were provided.

Beer drinking facilitated co-operation between clans, villages and tribes.

It was a source of informal education-the elders would use beer parties as an opportune moment to pass on information to the growing up youths. Note that at times, fathers went with their ”big” boys to attend these beer parties. These grown up boys were not supposed to drink with elders and didn’t participate in elders’ discussions. Their role was to listen, learn and probably ask a few calculated questions concerning a certain story-or proverb not understood.

Beer drinking helped in solving disputes among people and bringing about reconciliation.

It was used on almost all-cultural ceremonies as a matter of Custom.

Story telling:

During free time, the elders would gather the young and tell them various stories. These were usually very marvelous and heroic stories. How important was story telling then?

Through these stories, the young were taught to be careful and slow in decision making.

They were encouraged to be brave. Telling them stories of victories in tribal wars did this.

These stories inculcated in the young a spirit of love for their tribes, clans and villages.

These stories warned the young against any form of misbehaviours.

These stories encouraged the young to be humble, hard working, generous and so on.

Examples of stories told were those of the hare and the Leopard, the hare and the elephant, the hare and the rhino, the elephant and the frog etc. Elders usually recounted these stories in evening hours around a fireplace. In all stories concerning the hare and other animals, the former is shown as a very cunning animal. Hence these stories were told to encourage wisdom among the young.

Singing, dancing and playing musical instruments

Singing, dancing and playing musical instruments were also important pass-time activities. Gifted persons composed folk songs and dances and entertained others during free time. Others were not passive spectators.

They would clap, cheer up the singers and dancers and at times would join the singing and dancing.

Through music dance and drama, talents were exploited and skills shown.

The different values and cultural aspects of the people were put in songs and drama, hence making it easier for the young to learn their customs and cultural demands.

Songs were full of disciplinary advice.

Singing, dancing and drumming made people happy and relaxed.

Music, dance and drama made people creative and imaginative. It was an opportunity for young boys and girls to come together and sing together but nothing more was done.

 Comparative games and sports

Comparative games and sports activities were also arranged between villages and clans. For example wrestling matches, boat racing and rope pulling.

Proverbs and riddles

Proverbs and riddles were also ways of passing time. These proverbs were educational and were related to the economic, political, social and religious, needs of African communities. The young would exchange riddles and proverbs in a” competitive manner.

Playing the board games

Playing the board games was common for adult men while the children had their games and sports too. For example hide and seek, rope racing etc. Usually the grandmothers could watch the children playing ‘and spot out the bad characters and encourage good characters. They would then guide the young about fair play) balance between work and play and would warn them against selfishness.

Community celebrations

Community celebrations formed part of African leisure time. These included initiation days, wedding days, introduction ceremonies and so on. These were days of resting, days of joy, educating the young, promoting African customs, meeting ancestors and asking for blessings.

Hunting

Hunting was a famous leisure activity as well as an occupation for some people.

African art

African art was closely related to leisure. Painting, carving, making masks, baskets, mats and so on were usually done by skilled men and women during their free time. Through these arts and crafts, the cultural expressions of the people were made;

Sacrifice to the gods

Sacrifice to the gods and ancestors were usually done during peoples’ !tee time. This enabled Africans to cement their relationship with their gods and the living dead.

Observations

Traditional African leisure activities were free of charge.

Leisure activities were community creating or community building.

Leisure activities were educational.

Leisure time activities were organized by elders and therefore purposeful.

Leisure time was very limited since most of the time was taken up in work.

Leisure time was closely related to the traditional ways of life. (the rhythm of life) Leisure activities were experienced according to events and seasons.

Most leisure activities were carried out during the dry season when there w~ less work.

Leisure in the Present Situation

Today, the patterns of leisure have changed and will continue changing in the foreseeable future.

The following are some of the leisure activities we have today:

Beer drinking and eating roasted meat and chicken.

Going for disco dances (at times with street prostitutes).

Read~ newspapers and magazines.

Listening to cassette music.

Bible reading, fellowshipping and preaching the gospel.

Watching video shows or television programmes

Playing football or netball, long jump, athletics etc. (b Writing newspaper articles.

Making trips, tours, pick nicks and evening walks.

Gambling and window shopping

Going for motor rallies, trade shows and fashion shows. Going for public lectures and seminars.

Miming, photographing and letter writing

Going for theatre and beauty contests .

New Leisure brings new problems

The youths are presented with too much leisure time, which has made the youths to hate work in favour of leisure. This too much leisure availed to the youths has become monotonous to them and they learn nothing from it. Hence, abusing Ieisure time.

There are a variety of activities, which has made some youths to fail to choose which leisure is proper for them. Some have gone in for blue movies which has led to moral decay.

The youths have ended up in night disco dances, which has led to irresponsible and illegal sexual intercourse. In this way they have abused leisure time.

The result of reckless sex is unwanted pregnancies, abortions, producing unwanted babies, contracting HIV AIDS, early deaths and so on.

Over drinking has become the order of the day among some youths. To this we add smoking of cigarettes and drug abuse. This is due to joining bad companions during leisure time. This is real abuse of leisure.

Modern leisure has made the youths rebellious to their parents at home and teachers at school. This is shown in the way they escape from home and dormitories at night and go for discos. This has led to conflicts between the youths and their parents and teachers at times this has led to dropping out of school.

Today’s leisure activities require money or else one is left out. To get money, some youths have resorted to stealing their parents’ money or selling home property to get money and in boarding schools they steal their friend’s pocket money and property. All this is done in the name of enjoying leisure time. This is leisure abuse.

Some youths who fail to get money resort to “killing time” techniques. This is a situation whereby a person really has nothing to do and nowhere to go. So, he loiters all over the streets, moving from shop to shop just to kill time! This too is an abuse of leisure time.

Some people are so reckless that during their leisure time they lose a sense of shame and start speaking obscene words. This is at times due to bad group influence or drunkards.

To make matters worse, the love for money has made leisure makers to think about a11 sorts of activities to tap peoples’ money during their free time. This has brought in beauty contests some of which have pulled big audiences to go and watch the nearly naked women. The nearly naked pictures on leisure magazines are another example, not to forget the dramatists who must dress indecently in order to attract clients!

Some people have lost respect for their age. Hence you find mature and responsible men and women in trans-night discos, daily video shows etc. This doesn’t show respect for one’s age and status. How can the young give up these activities when adults are also involved in them?

Today’s leisure has made the youths to lose respect for their culture in favour of western cultures. Hence they dress in slit skirts, shorts, and cut funny hairstyles and keep on chewing orbit in an unhealthy manner. All these were not part of African culture.

Fighting has become common in most leisure centres. Accidents are also frequent due to over-drinking.

There is too much passive leisure today and this has reduced peoples’ ability to do creative and constructive things during leisure time.

Today’ s leisure has no respect for God’s commandments. Hence people construct lodges purposely to encourage people to hide and seek God’s commandments. Some of these lodges are clearly labelled as ”HIDE OUTS”, Shameless Christians-go and hide there, hence evading God.

Music, dance and Drama

Theatre going is a very famous leisure activity. People go there to watch plays, concerts, and so on. Music dance and drama has the following good points.

It helps people to develop their talents .

It enables the artists to express their inner feelings to the public.

Drama can help a person watching it to change his or her behaviour for the better.

Those with various problems Can get consolation when they learn that problems are everywhere.

It helps people to spend their leisure time, relax their minds in preparation for the following day’s work.

Those in political power can be given advice indirectly.

Through drama we learn about what is going on in the world around us.

Music, dance and drama is a channel through which our cultures can be preserved.

It is a source of income to the actors and owners of theatres.

Recommended ways for spending leisure time for Christians

Visiting friends to exchange ideas with them and strength relationships.

Joining Church choirs in order to come closer to God’s presence during one’s free tune.

Fellowshipping with fellow Christians and bible reading.

Doing charitable services for the needy. For example teaching adults how to read and write, repairing the houses of the elderly, clearing their compounds and so on.

Join Christian clubs in order to promote God’s glory everywhere.

Attending seminars and public lectures to learn more about what is going on in the country or world in general. Watching football matches.

Reading newspapers, magazines such as KAWA focus on education, Leadership and listening to the good analytical radios.

Listening to Christian music and watching television programmes.

Preaching the gospel to make Jesus known everywhere.

A Christian should not forget to pray to God during his /her free time.

Joining games and sports in order to keep physically fit.

Comparing Leisure in the African Past with Leisure in the Present Situation

Similarities

• Visiting friends and chatting,
• Beer drinking was common in the past and is common even today. In both cases, there is singing, dancing and enjoyment.
• In the past people realised the need to grow closer to their gods and even today they praise God during leisure time.
• Africans remembered and involved their; dead during leisure time. Even Christians pray to their saints seeking for assistance during their free time. Introduction ceremonies and wedding arrangements were made during free time and this is steel the case today.
• Naming of children in both the past and present situation.
• Playing and watching games and sports such as running and wrestling was common and is still common.
• Meetings and discussions in both the past and today.
• Visiting the sick and the needy.
• Teaching young ones religious songs-and other aspects of social life.
• Resting, relaxing, thinking privately about the past events and planning for the future.
• Weaving and doing some other economically viable activities.

Differences.

Today’s leisure requires money if you, are to participate in it fully. On the other hand, African leisure activities were free of charge.

Traditional African Leisure activities were communally organised and enjoyed while today’s leisure is rather individualistic. Each individual today organises and enjoys his or her free time in a self centred style.

There is lack of creativity in most of today’s leisure activities. This has led to aimless leisure, yet in the past leisure activities were creative and meaningful.

Leisure in the African past was’ geared towards promoting African cu1iunJ values unlike modern leisure, which only” undermines traditional African cultural values.

Most traditional leisure activities followed the natural rhythm of life, which, isn’t the case today. Modem leisure is programmed and properly time tabled’ e.g. on weekends.

Leisure time was limited in the African past. The little leisure time they had was used meaningfully. There was no time wasting. However today, there is unnecessarily too much leisure, most of which is meaningless and time wasting.

Leisure activities in the past were organised and closely supervised by elders unlike today when the young programme on their own with no supervision at all which has led to leisure time becoming a source of immorality. In the past, leisure time was a source of morality.

Leisure in Church History

During the early centuries, some Christians looked at life as good and to be enjoyed. To such Christians, God created the world and everything in it to make man happy during his free time. These included St. Clement.

However, some early Christians had a negative attitude towards life and God’s creation. They were influenced by pagan ideas that the world is evil and the body is corrupt. This prevented them from enjoying leisure time. They included Origen.

Early Christians chose to serve God through renunciation. They left their homes, relatives, and wealth and went to the desert. They were following Jesus command to the rich young men “Go sell what you have’ and give the money to the poor, then come and follow me”,

In the desert, there were many monks and nuns who lived simple but happy lives.

St. Anthony is believed to have lived in the desert and to have enjoyed it fully. He even made friendship with a lion, which he treated of its sickness.

Pagan entertainment in the early Church

Crowds were entertained by being shown pagans sexual plays.

Fights between men and wild animals were staged in order to entertain people during leisure time. These, men were Christians who had refused to worship the pagan gods. In most cases wild animals killed these men.

Imprisoned Christians were forced to fight with pagan prisoners as a way of entertaining people during leisure time. These Christians -were imprisoned because of their faith.

Childish and immoral games were organized by mature people just to kill leisure time. E.g. competing to see who could eat faster than the other to see who had a longer penis than the other and so on.

Plays were staged, which promoted the power of’ pagan gods and undermined the power of Jesus.

The songs of the day were very immoral. Obscene words were used and the women used to sing while naked.

All the existing Roman leisure literature was immoral and promoted the glory of pagan gods.

The early Christians looked at a beauty contest during that time as a pagan practise.

How the strong Christians reacted to these pagan entertainment

St. Augustine disapproved of such entertainment and requested his congregation to stop going for such entertainment. Augustine was a Bishop of Hippo.

St. Augustine started preaching for long hours on, Sundays so as to keep Christians busy and prevent them from going to pagan entertainment.

The reason why he condemned the pagan entertainment were:

• These entertainment were immoral
• They promoted the worshipping of other gods.
• They were cruel and promoted killing.
• They didn’t help to create good relationships between human beings
• These entertainments didn’t encourage the expansion of God’s Kingdom.

Some Christians started writing good and interesting Christian literature so as to occupy people during leisure time.

Christian artists started painting beautiful pictures, making curving, and weaving which occupied people’s free time.

Christian plays based on the Bible were composed.

Christian hymns (songs) were composed to replace the pagan ones. For example the hymns of St. Ambrose- the bishop of Milan were so amusing that St. Augustine feared they would turn his attention away from God .

Middle ages.

Reformers called upon people to enjoy life. Churches were painted in bright colours to make them attractive and to make worship enjoyable.

Pictures of the commemorated saints were painted in Churches.

St. Francis of Assisi enjoyed the presence of all the created things. He saw something worthy of praising God in every created thing. He was humble, simple and poor and so were his followers. But these didn’t prevent them from enjoying  life.

Story telling became popular.

Music, dance and drama based on Christian principles were introduced.

Missionaries to Africa in the 19th century

They condemned most of the ways in which Africans enjoyed their leisure time.

They condemned African dances, songs and drama as being pagan.

They interfered with the communal ways of spending leisure time. How?

By converting some Africans and ‘preventing them from joining their relatives’ leisure activities.

They condemned African seasonal ceremonies calling them pagan. These included harvest ceremonies.

Beer drinking was also condemned as being un-Christian. Hence interfering with African forms of leisure.

African rituals such as birth rites, circumcision ceremonies, rituals of the twins were also interfered with. They condemned them as pagan.

African paintings, sculpture and crafts were also suspected.

Comments

It was wrong for missionaries to condemn African leisure activities without first learning about their values. They are blamed for having destroyed the good old African culture.

Modern preachers should not make the same mistake of’ condemning the cultures they don’t understand properly. If the missionaries had understood the values of African culture they wouldn’t have condemned them. 

They condemned African music, dance and drama and instead introduced foreign music, dance and drama!

They condemned drinking of local beers instead introduced their wines!

They condemned African arts and promoted theirs etc. The above wasn’t part of Christianity but was a way of undermining African culture and imposing their own culture on us.

Modem Africa

Today, Christians have read the gospel for themselves and have discovered that Jesus was a lively man who enjoyed leisure time fully. So there is great enjoyment of leisure time by Christians who just follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.

The recommended ways of spending leisure time among Christians today have already been given. 

The Theme of Leisure in the Bible

The Old Testament.

The Old Testament presents life as a rhythm of both work and leisure. That is, both work and leisure are natural, normal and desirable for the full development of human beings. Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, says that there is time for everything: time for planting, time for dancing, time for building, time for Laughter and so on. This means that leisure was part and parcel of the Israelites society.

In Genesis 2:2, we learn that God rested after his grand work; of creating the world. Hence he gave a vivid example that resting after work is part of life. Leisure is therefore divine. 

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 informs us about the Sabbath day. This was the Seventh day of the week. According to Exodus 20: 8-12 and Deuteronomy 5: 12-15, God commanded the Israelites to do all their work and complete it in six days. Then on the seventh day, they had to rest. It was a resting day for the adults, children, servants and even farm animals.

On the Sabbath day the Israelite~ rested from work. This enabled them to become fresh and regain energy for another week’s work.

More important, it was a day of remembering God’s love and mercy for them a day of remembering how God had rescued them from the Egyptian slavery.

It was a day of thanking God for all his merciful and mighty acts for the Israelites.

It was a day of praising and worshiping Yahweh (their God) by singing the Psalms. It was a day of prayer.

It was a day of offering sacrifices to their God. (Numbers 28:9-11) It was a day of educating the young about their history and about God’s activity in their lives.