BHUBANESWAR: The festivities of Christmas week were kick started in the city at midnight Monday as city churches, roads and shopping malls welcomed baby Jesus with well-lit Christmas trees, socks and alluring lighting.
The celebrations began at 12 o’clock with the prayers by the priest and devotees at the St Vincent Pro Cathedral church. Devotees gathered in large numbers to attend the midnight congregation despite the shivering temperature. The devotees lit candles and offered roses to the Jesus Christ. The surrounding was then filled with musical performances in English, Odia and hindi languages.
On the occasion the devotees were given cakes at the church and at the end the devotees paid their respect and touched the feet of the baby Jesus. Archbishop of Pro Cathedral John Barwa said, “Christmas is a special occasion to shower our love and affection on others. We participate in cake cutting and singing of carols which brings us closer to each other.”
“The Christian community is blessed to celebrate the special occasion to mark the birth of Lord Jesus. On this day, we share feelings of brotherhood, love, justice and unity to make this world a better place according to the direction of the Lord,” he added.
A small fire broke out at light candle stand of the church but no injuries were reported in this regard. On the Christmas day, several youngsters were also seen in the church celebrating the occasion. Sangeeta Mishra said, “I came with my friends to celebrate Christmas. Although I am not a Christian, I celebrate the occasion due to my secular ethos. I like lighting up Christmas trees.”
Meanwhile, devotees participated in a prayers ceremony at the Union Church here. Elisa, a devotee of the Union Church of Christ, said, “Jesus is the son of god who lived with god eternally. To save the sinful mankind, he then incarnated as a human being. He lived on the Earth to take all the sins of mankind upon himself and propagate the presence of the Lord.”
The pastor at Church of Christ, Bhubaneswar B N Sathpathy said, “The celebrations began December 18. We have had a week-long celebration with carols and prayers. The Christmas Eve celebration extends from 11 pm to 1 am and then, in the morning, we have worship service.”
Another devotee Ajit Mohapatra said, “Bible asks us not to worship idols. In fact, we do not worship the book either. We honor and respect it but we do not worship it. We give importance to the text in the bible. Worshipping without following makes no sense. We value the words.”
Jochen Kontz, a German who had married an Indian and is also a resident of Bhubaneswar, said, “I am quite surprised to see such a huge response from the city. Christmas is a time of sharing happiness with one’s family. Temperature was the biggest difference in the celebrations at Germany and India.”