Tradition Joins Tech As Christmas Festivities Start In Vizag

Visakhapatnam: Christmas festivities have started across the coastal city of Visakhapatnam at churches, shopping complexes and homes, with centuries’ old traditions blending with latest digital technologies, while the beckoning star remains the constant.

Churches are being adorned with elaborate festive decorations, with focus on the city's historic churches. Notable among them are St. John's Church, built by the British East India Company around 1844, and St. Paul's Church, with over 180 years of history near Waltair Club. St. Anthony Church goes back to 1852, Ross Hill Church 1864, and the European-style St. Joseph's Church is from 1903. These heritage landmarks are looking forward to their milestone 2025 Christmas celebrations.

Cake-mixing ceremonies have become a major attraction throughout Visakhapatnam, with schools, colleges and community organisations hosting the traditional pre-Christmas ritual.

Restaurants across the city have updated their menus to include special Christmas desserts and sweets. Shopping malls and residential areas are being decorated with streamers, stars and lighting.

The modern dimension to this year's celebrations comes from online platforms. Secret Santa games have emerged as a major attraction. Digital platforms are offering automated random matching, group creation through shareable links, wish-list management and customisable budgets and rules for gift exchanges.

Virtual Secret Santa tools have become popular among remote teams and friend circles across different cities. There are hybrid office setups, allowing participants to send gifts to loved ones while maintaining the element of surprise that defines the tradition.

A group of friends working at a corporate office in the city has embraced the digital Secret Santa trend with their own creative twist. Kavya, Diksha and Arna say they are organising gifting games, where each member takes turns playing Santa and sends surprise gifts to colleagues. The gift receiver has to guess who Santa is. Whoever wins has to throw a party for everyone.

“It's been a great way to bond and add some excitement to our work routine," says the trio.