Christmas-The merriest
time of the winters
December 25th ,
the day to celebrate the birth of Lord Jesus Christ is here again. Colourful
decorations and twinkling stars adorn the whole world that celebrates with zest
the festival of Christmas. As the Christmas day dawns, it nears the end of a
period of feverish activity. Preparations for the festivities begin nearly a
month in advance. It is almost vacation time in western countries. Spick and
span homes with new furnishings are readied to welcome the Lord Jesus.
Christmas cakes and puddings are shopped as well as made at home. For the
traditional taste and flavour dried fruits and nuts are soaked in rum to be
used in the cakes and puddings for the big day. Various types of cookies and
other sweetmeats are made and stored in advance.
It is definitely
a time to shop. Shopping malls wear entirely a festive look with colourful
Christmas decorations lining the shop windows. Bargain sales for gifts,
clothes, toys jewellry and household goods are the main attraction of the
season. Cutouts of Santa Claus as well as live Santa i.e., persons in disguise
of Santa dressed in red clothes and with a long flowing white beard play with
the children and hand them over small gifts. Soft music and Christmas carols
are played everywhere createing a pleasant atmosphere of warmth and comfort.
Shouts of joy and ringing of the bells signify the importance of the Birth of
Christ. Since medieval times, church bells have been rung on Christmas morning
to announce to the world the coming of the Saviour.
The Midnight Mass
precedes the Christmas day and the church resounds with the joyful singing of
Christmas carols and thanksgiving. Many a event are organized in the churches
to celebrate the Christmas. These include Christmas lunch, fete and choir
festivals. The money collected from the events is used for charity works, for
the development of the church and spreading the messages of Lord Jesus Christ.
Churches also organise carol singing practices at least a month in advance.
Carol singing is also organized at the residences of the Prime Minister and the
President of India.
At home families
prepare cakes, cookies and traditional Indian sweets. The Christmas dinner is
an important affair, where the whole family sits down together for the meal -
Christmas cake, Christmas pudding and roasted chicken or turkey and numerous
other dishes.
Christians in the
country decorate banana or mango trees. They also light small oil-burning lamps
as Christmas decorations and fill their churches with red flowers. They give
presents to family members and charity to the poor. In South
India , Christians put small clay lamps on the rooftops and walls
of their houses at Christmas, just as the Hindus do during Diwali.
Feasting and
merrymaking takes precedence at Christmas. Each region of the country has its
specialties. But there are some customs and traditions which all love to
follow. For example, the Christmas tree is an integral part of the Christmas.
Martin Luther gets the credit for introducing the Christmas tree. It is
believed that he was walking on Christmas Eve and was so moved by the starlit
sky that he took a fir tree home and attached candles to its branches to remind
children of the heavens. Tinsel on the Christmas Tree is attributed to a woman
whose husband died. She was left to bring up a large family of children by
herself and had to work very hard. But she was determined to make Christmas a
happy time for her family. She prepared a Christmas Tree to surprise them on
Christmas Day. Unfortunately spiders made webs all over it. The Christ Child
saw the tree and changed the spiders’ webs to shining silver.
Quite a time ago,
in Scandinavia , even before Christianity came
into being, it was a custom to burn Yule logs as a mark of respect to Gods.
This continues till date. It is considered good luck to keep an unburnt part of
the log to light the next year’s Yule log. This unburnt portion is also
believed to protect the home from lightning and fire during the year.
The quintessential
red and white striped candy cane is a much-loved confectionery the world over.
The shape is the replica of the crooked canes used by the shepherds who were
the first to see Christ. The red stripe represents the sacrifice of both Lord
Jesus Christ and his followers and the white stripes are a symbol of purity.
Hanging the
Christmas stocking on the hearth on Christmas Eve in the hope that it would be
filled with presents the next morning is a custom that goes back about 400
years. Besides exchanging gifts, hanging gifts on trees and the use of
mistletoe at Christmas time are other favourite customs.
The spirit of
Christmas takes on whole of the country with a hope for the betterment of the
humanity.
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