calendar icon Wed, December 25, 2019

Christmas is celebrated across the country on December 25 with great pomp and joy. Christians believe that it was the day that Jesus Christ was born and, therefore, observe the day with grand festivities, prayers and feasting. On this day, in India, families and friends get together, decorate Christmas trees, exchange gifts and blessings, bake delicious fruit and plum cakes, prepare such traditional savouries as rose cookies, kidyo (sweet dough curls) and nevreo (puffs stuffed with jaggery and raisins), and relish them. Midnight mass is held in churches on Christmas eve a few hours before midnight, where Christians gather for service. Churches are not only decorated with lights and stars but some churches put up a nativity scene with dolls, which is a representation of the manger in which Jesus Christ is believed to have been born, and even organise plays celebrating the season. You can hear the melodious tunes of carols in almost every neighbourhood.