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The most widely celebrated festival in the world Christmas is celebrated on the 25th of December every year with much pomp, gaiety and devotion by people cutting across religious and regional divides. This secular and cultural festival is celebrated to mark the birth of Jesus Christ, and preaches the wonderful concepts of affection, peace and fraternity among the people.

Though the festival is celebrated with much enthusiasm and fervor in almost every part of the world; in US, Russia, America, and Europe the celebrations are more remarkable. The reason: these parts of the world are heavily dominated by the Christians.

Much preparations go beforehand to celebrate the day on a big scale though the celebrations and festivities only begin from the 24 December. On that day, churches hold Midnight Mass. People wear new clothes and smell their best when they go out to attend the special prayer at the church in their neighborhood, and freely mix with others. Many people fire crackers while returning back to their homes after attending the special prayer session.

The next day, on the Big Day, people happily greet each other, exchange gifts and greeting cards and indulge in merry making. Special Christmas star, Christmas tree, Christmas cake, and Christmas food are prepared and enjoyed. Houses, offices and public places are well decorated with beautiful bells, candles, candy canes, star lamps, wreaths and angles.

People--especially the children--sing sweet Christmas carols on this day that much add to the beauty of Christmas. To celebrate the festival, in style, most of the hotels, pubs, and restaurants throw special parties for their guests whose number increase manifold on this great day.

On Christmas, many people impersonating Santa Clause--also called Father Christmas and/or Saint Nicholas--generously distribute gifts consisting of candies, chocolates, and other goodies, especially amongst children who surround them whenever they happen to sight them expecting a gift from them. Christmas celebrations continue till the 5th of January (the Twelfth Night) the next year.

In India, Christmas is celebrated with much enthusiasm like elsewhere though only 2.3 per cent of the country’s total population consists of the Christians. The Christians in the country are mostly concentrated in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu which have about 50 percent of those following Christianity in India.

The Indian cities of Calcutta, Delhi, Aizawal (Mizoram), Kohima (Nagaland), Martanda (Tamil Nadu), Kottayam (Kerala) Panaji (Goa), Pondicherry, and Shillong (Meghalaya) witness Christmas celebrations on a grand level even though celebrations and festivities are striking in other parts of the country as well.