Bengaluru: The city has been gearing up for Christmas celebrations from the beginning of this month. While choir performances and cribs were up on display for the past few days, this year's big day has a few specials. From an eco-friendly Christmas Tree, a thousand stars lighting the way in Defence Colony, Indiranagar to special mechanical walk in cribs, Bengalureans are taking spreading Christmas cheer quite seriously.
“Our Christmas celebrations started on the first of this month. We started off by visiting orphanages, feeding the poor, visiting old age homes and organising donation drives throughout the city. We have reached out to more than 180 people this month,” said Mr Sringara, a member of Full Gospel Assemblies of God's Church (FAGC) in Indiranagar. Established in 1982, the church celebrates Christmas each year with a theme, added Reverend Paul Thangaiah, the parish priest. "This year our theme is Bring Your Own Star to Christmas." The church has decorated the stretch of the road in front of the church with thousand-odd stars. The church has organised a special service mass for the Christmas Eve and will also have another Christmas mass at 5pm on Sunday.
A conscious effort is being made to make sure that this year's big day is kind to the environment as well. An approximately 25-foot-tall eco-friendly Christmas tree adorns the front porch of The Mar Thoma Syrian church near Hosmat Hospital. "It's completely made out of cardboard boxes wrapped in coloured paper. I think Christmas is all about the feelings in the heart and it doesn't really matter if we go with a traditional tree. In fact, this eco-friendly tree is much better, in my opinion," remarked Karthik Jacob, a member of the community.
Cribs are another important aspect of the festival and mechanical cribs have become quite popular this year. "The crib is set up in the courtyard and it is a working mechanical crib. It is complete with a walk in pathway, water fountain acting like a stream and the whole stretch. It can fit about 80 people comfortably," said Cheryl Vinita Braggs, a member of the Christu Prabhalaya Church in Jayanagar. "The grass has been grown over the past month and the members have been working on it for quite some time. We did it for Easter and even Christmas last year and it was very popular," she said.
