Christmas Gifts 2018

Significance Of Christmas

Christmas is one the most happening festivals all over the world. Though most of us know that it is celebrated as the Birth of Jesus Christ, yet it symbolizes a deep, significant truth of the spiritual life.

People believe that Jesus Christ was born when the world was taken up by ignorance, superstition, greed and hatred; Jesus’ birth brought the transformation in the lives of people.

Not just for the festival, but Christmas is celebrated for the memories. From children to older people, everybody eagerly awaits entire year for the festival to come, thinking about the gifts.

How can you make this Christmas special for yourself and your kids?

Christmas is a great time to make memories, sure your kids and elders of your family must be thinking about the Christmas gifts. Not just the gifts, you can make this Christmas special by spending your valuable time with your kids and loved ones. But how? Following traditions is the Key. Make your family come together and kick-start the celebrations by doing this Follow some simple traditions like decorating the tree. Before going into that, let’s understand the significance of the Christmas tree. Also called as Fir tree, this traditional tree is used to celebrate winter festivals for thousands of years. Fir trees were brought inside and lit with candles as a symbol of hope that the spring would bless with plenty of crops and food for the year. Similar to the X-mas tree, Christmas candles also have a significant role in the celebration. Jesus is called as ‘Light of the world’ by many. This has led to the custom of lighting the candles in the name of the lord during the festival.

So, make your family know this and start decorating your X-mas tree with beautiful flowers, candles, and other decorative stuff.  Helping others- knowingly or unknowingly most of us do not realize that others are not as fortunate as we are, so helping them in any way possible could be the best way to celebrate. Here comes the Santa! Santa Claus (though it may be a myth) is known as the patron saint for poor, especially the widows and children. It is a belief that Santa used to leave bags of money and gifts near the doorstep of the low-income families in secret. Over time his generosity was remembered by people giving gifts to children in secret.

So, why can’t we be the Santa for this year’s eve and help the poor? Let us spread not just the money, but our love and celebration. Lets’ show the kids and younger generation how to help others by giving back to the community; this can truly become a family tradition during the Christmas and carry on from generation to generation.  Spend time together- As Christmas comes with New year celebrations, most of them tend to meet at a common place to celebrate. Make the best use of this valuable time and play around with it as much as you can. Go for the dinner, plan an event, or plan fun things for the elders and children.

Keep your gadgets aside and be with your family because being together is always precious.

How is Christmas celebrated in India?

Being a Secular country, Christmas is celebrated not just by the Christian community but by people of all religions. However, Christmas euphoria in India is largely based on the American media depiction. Days before the festival begins, marketers create the hype with traditional Christmas tree, stars, Santa images, balloons, and gifts.

Basically, it all begins with shopping! People start preparations for the traditional Christmas cake which the family and the neighbours have been waiting for. Christmas gifts are bought for friends, relatives and kids in the family. Christmas is also a time for family reunions; people living in different cities rush back to their homes, come together at one place to celebrate Christmas with near and dear ones.

In India, Christmas is celebrated differently in different states because of the local cultural influence.  In South India, Christians light clay lamps on the rooftops and walls of their houses, the way Hindus decorate their homes during the Diwali.  In some states, there is a popular custom of decorating banana or mango tree instead of a traditional pine tree.  In northwest India, the tribal Christians go out night after night for a week during Christmas to sing their equivalent of carols the whole night.  In Mumbai, which has one of the largest Roman Catholic communities in India, there is a tradition to depict nativity scenes and decorate home with big stars.  A most exciting celebration of Christmas can be seen in Goa. People from various places, including International tourists, reach Goa during Christmas festival to watch the cultural beauty of Christmas celebrations. Catholics in Goa participate in the traditional midnight mass services locally called Missa de Galo or Cock Crow as they go on well into early hours of the morning. The Carnival, preceding Lent, is the most important event at Goa; this is similar to Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

Christmas and the cakes Any festival, especially Christmas is incomplete without the cake. If you ask anyone that which is the one thing they miss about Christmas during the year, the answer would be a CAKE! Not just for the taste, but the cake is a part of traditional cuisine for Christmas. However, this cuisine varies in different parts of the world, but the cake, chocolates and cookies remain common. Christmas cake was begun as plum porridge; people ate the porridge on Christmas Eve to line their stomachs after a day of fasting. Soon people started adding honey, spices and eventually it turned into Christmas pudding.

Later, oatmeal or porridge was removed from the original recipe and butter, flour, and eggs were added; these ingredients helps hold the mixture together and resulted in the boiled plum cake. People then started using dried fruits and spices, and that’s how Christmas cake has come up.