You can imagine my surprise when I saw a lady at the market
wearing a santa hat. Santa does not exist here in Cameroon, and therefore the
lady could not have understood what she was wearing. The baffling part was how
she had come to acquire it. As I walked around the market, I found the answer.
There was a man selling a big bag of used hats. Second hand clothes are sold
commonly at markets here, assumedly imported from America and Europe through
donations by charity organization like the goodwill or salvation army. We end
up seeing lots of clearly American clothing. This man had somehow managed to
get his hands on a giant bag of used hats. The hats must have been collected at
Christmas time, because about half of them were santa hats. Just this massive
pile of beanies and santa hats. The santa hat just looked like a stylish American
fashion statement to the woman. We asked her and her friend about it, and sure
enough, the friend said, “I told her it’s the hat that people wear in America
around the holiday times.” No mention that it is actually santa who wears it.
Just a cool popular hat that all the Americans wear. The new trend really took
off. Later that day as we were sitting and eating, three big men walked by, all
in santa hats as well. So thank you, Goodwill, there are now at least 20 people
wearing Santa hats seriously thinking they look super hip and stylish in the
middle of Cameroon in June.
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