India is a country that has no shortage of festivals, the country is filled with diversity due to the various religion being followed here and their various culture followed due to the length and breadth of the country. Not only during Christmas but the whole year around the Church in our locality is always vibrant the whole year-round. We listen to what the pastor is saying, like what is an Ephod and these things are engraved in our mind and soul. Everyday Sunday’s visit to the Church makes us feel reenergized and fresh to face the harsh world outside.
Here all the festivals are celebrated with a lot of joy and enthusiasm. Here festivals like Independence Day, Republic day, Guru Nanak Gurpurab, Eid al-Fits, Ambedkar Jayanti, Chhath, Eid al-Adha, Easter, Pongal, Raksha Bandhan, Guru Gobind Singh Jayanti, Navaratri, Basant Panchami, Ganesh Chaturthi, Muharram, Onam, Bihu, Kali Puja, Mahavir Janma Kalyanak, Akshaya Tritiya, Durga Ashtami, and the list goes on.
In India lot of people live who follow Christianity and their way of celebrating Christmas is much more traditional and where all the rituals are being followed all the market is filled with Santa Claus idols, and decorating in the cities and houses is eye-popping.
Here is how Christmas is being commemorated all over India
A Catholic Christmas In India
The catholic population in India is huge. We have grown in the orthodox and traditional Catholic populations we were eagerly waiting for the Christmas holidays. As our community is very religious here church plays a big role in our life. Everyone’s life revolves around the church. For the celebration of Christmas church plays a pivotal role. Preparation starts from the starting of December month. Or usually from Advent Sunday. Here planning and celebration for Christmas and the masses is done by the church itself. The preparation of sweets, planning of food to be made in all the household and decoration to be done in the house the task is divided among the all the family members. The decoration part is given to children usually here they are overjoyed to this work and they have planned whole year around what to do on this day of the year. Here the market is filled with items very difficult to make choices but we usually prefer the same old shops we have been doing shopping where our father is doing shopping in their childhood. Our bonding with these shopkeepers and their families is good. We go out for other shopping with our family members. Her all the local shops, markets, and malls are covered with multicolor twinkling fairy lights, paper streamers, and colorful flowers. All the atmosphere is filled with color and brightness which can be noticed while going through the market. The aromas coming out of the bakeries preparing the Christmas cake is so appealing that mouth-watering that it is very hard to resist. All of my non-christian friends have only one demand bring the plum cake or the rum cake for us when you return from the holidays. All the city is covered in the light looks spectacular during the night. Coming on to the most important part the Christmas that is the Christmas tree. Here there is no snow unlike back in the USA which is covered in a blanket of snow. But this does not discourage the children here. They use cotton or thermocol as an option here. The tree is covered with a lot of candies, stars. Most of the children get their Christmas gifts under this tree only. House is covered with stars and draperies.
Food Made During Christmas Back In India
There is some western influence on some of the food prepared here. Like Rum Cake, plum cake, Rose cookies which are generally not made in India. India has been ruled by a lot of western rulers Portuguese, French, and British. Which has had some influence on our food culture. So the festival celebrates here is a true representative of global cuisine it is the melting point of all the cultures that had ever ruled this country. The food which is most influenced is the bakery culture cakes, cookies pudding, the bread which is now an integral part of our food system. Cakes have been now transformed as an integral part of every Indian household irrespective of religion and occasion. A lot of bakeries have sprawled up nowadays to satisfy the need of the food bud of the ever-increasing fan base of this culture.
Conclusion:
Back here in India celebration of Christmas is done along with our other friends of other religions too. Their craving for especially homemade cakes can be seen in their eyes. Rum cake is a hit among adults. Back in the USA, we miss the warmth and the big get-together of the families and friends. Food is something which made in India is during festive time is we miss here.
