Yuletide festival in India
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
An Indian Christmas
[ From the archives of the Times of India]
AnahitaMukherji | TNN
Local decorations, Indian sweets, Mother Mary in a sari...the yuletide festival is increasingly getting desi even as its popularity goes beyond Christians
Half a dozen Hanumans, with a mace in the right hand and a mountain resting on the left palm, dangle from little branches of the fir tree. The orange-coloured plastic toys hang above a few miniature auto-rickshaws with a sticker that reads “Hum India se pyaarkartehain (We love India).” On another branch of the Christmas tree is India’s favourite totem against the evil eye — a bunch made of a lemon and few green chilies with a small board that says “Burinazar wale teramuhkala.” Adding another divine dimension are two Ganeshas on two branches. Fighting for attention are also colourful peacocks made in Rajasthani style. A little higher, just below the star, is Santa Claus riding a camel decorated in desi fashion. And on top of the tree, above the Christmas star, is a small Tricolour.
This is a Christmas tree decorated with things that are being sold as ‘Indian Christmas decoration’. Florencia Costa, a Brazilian who has been living in India for six years, says she loves the idea. “For me, Christmas is a celebration of life and you should celebrate it with things that you see every day, that exist all around you. There’s no point in pretending to be a European and decorating the tree with bells, reindeer and poinsettias. I prefer things that I see on Indian roads,” she says. “I also have a cow on my tree. know many persons, including expats, who are decorating their trees with Indian ornaments and objects. When in India, Christmas should be Indian style.” The branches of Christmas trees aren’t the only things Indian about the festival in our country. The shepherds in nativity plays, too, are increasingly donning local attire. And along with the plum cake, traditional Indian sweets are exchanged during Christmas, like sandesh in Bengal and karanjisgujiya) in Maharashtra. “Since we receive karanjis from our Hindu neighbours during Diwali, we give them karanjis for Christmas,’’ says DnyaneshwarSoholkar, a Maharashtrian Christian who comes from a Brahmin family in Vidarbha. Meanwhile, a Methodist church in Mumbai celebrates Christmas with a threedayupvaas (fast), a practise usually associated with Hinduism. While Christmas was earlier seen as a Western tradition, it is now as much an Indian festival as Diwali and Holi, celebrated by people of all faith. Christmas stars and cribs are increasingly entering the Hindu household. The Parsi community, too, celebrates the festival with much gusto. “My son brings us plum pudding from London and my daughter gets a turkey from Abu Dabhi,’’ says MehrooKharegat, a Parsi from South Mumbai. As a child, Kharegat herself would dress up as Father Christmas to entertain her brothers — a pillowcase pulled over her shoulder in place of a sack and her father’s socks as gloves. That Christians aren’t the only ones who believe in Christ is evident from the crowds thronging churches on Christmas day. “So many people of different religions attend service at our cathedral on Christmas that mass continues till 2 am the next morning,’’ says the Archbishop of Delhi, Vincent M Concessao, who believes that Christmas is a festival with universal appeal, as everyone loves celebrating the birth of a child. While Hindus attend church on Christmas, the church conducts special mass for Diwali. “Jesus Christ was born out of light, and since Diwali is the festival of light, we celebrate it, too,’’ says Archbishop Concessao. Father Frazer Mascarenhas, principal of St Xavier’s College Mumbai, says that the official church liturgy, formulated in Rome and adapted for different cultures across the country, prescribes a special mass for Diwali in which Christians celebrate the festival along with their Hindu brethren. The Archbishop talks of the inculturation’ of Christianity, with the religion taking on the flavour of the local culture. Take for instance Christmas cards in India, many of which show Mother Mary wearing a sari. “African Christmas cards show a black Jesus and Mary while the cards in Japan have Mother Mary wrapped in a kimono,’’ says Fr Dominic Emmanuel, spokesperson of the Delhi Catholic Church.
Christian weddings, though held in church, have all the trappings of a traditional Indian wedding. Like Swapan and AninditaBaidya, a Bengali Christian couple who wore traditional Bangla attire while getting married in church. Anindita was quite the Bengali bride, draped in a bright red Banarasi sari while Swapan wore a dhoti and Punjabi suit. They even exchanged garlands and Swapan put sindur in Anindita’s hair. Likewise, Soholkar got married in Maharashtrian style, and his wife still wears a mangalsutra. While nuns are increasingly swapping the habit for a sari, Christian priests are often clad in shawls, much like the Brahmin pujari. In some churches, candles are replaced with diyas. “In remote tribal areas, midnight mass for Christmas is followed by aadivasi dances,’’ says Fr Emmanuel. Archbishop Concessao feels that Christianity has imbibed a great deal of Indian spirituality. FrMascarenhas points out that Hinduism is itself a plurality of beliefs and hence it is not difficult for Hindus to accept other notions of God and add Jesus to the pantheon.
