Hello Guys, 

In this post I will share about "How Kanyakumari people celebrate Christmas and New year". 

Well, We all are know that Christmas is celebrated across the world as anniversary of the birth of Jesus Christ. People celebrate Christmas in many ways across the world, by decorating their homes, gifting others, wearing new dresses, inviting relatives to their homes, sharing things for needy people, making cakes , etc...

In Southern India , One of the best place to celebrate Christmas is Kanyakumari, Tamilnadu. 

People in Kanyakumari eagerly wait for the month of happiness ( December ).

Yes, Christmas is not an one day festival , they start celebrating Christmas from December starting onwards. 

They start to decorate their homes with lights and stars before carol starts. Even other religion peoples decorate their home with lights and stars for their children's happiness. 

Carol - Christmas carol starts early in December, a small group of people visit the surrounding house by singing the birth story of Jesus Christ. Usually Carol is organised by Churches, Music bands, other Christian groups, etc..  An younger boy will do the Santa role and entertain the people by dancing , finally he will give gifts or chocolates and wishing them to have a Merry Christmas and a Prosperous New. Some childrens get scared by seeing the santa and some childrens try to touch the beard of santa. Finally, some houses provide snacks and some provides food for the group. 

After few days , Yougsters starts decorating their churches with beautiful lights and stars. Church members invest more money for decorating their church to attract people for various places. In few churches they hang 100+ stars to portrait the birth of Jesus Christ and in few church they hang one single Giant white star. Church members place an beautiful Christmas Tree inside the church. Few small childrens helps them to decorate the Christmas Tree. 

In the mean time few area youngsters gather together and collect Citronella Grass ( locally known as Tharuvai ) from nearby mountains. 

Group of boys gather together and starts cutting the grass and bring to their location where they are going to make the Christmas Crib. Generally the size of the Christmas Cribs ranges from some few feets to more feets depending upon the creativity. They make it larger in size to attract people from different locations. Chukku Kaapi ( a coffee prepared from coriander seeds, dried ginger and karupukatti ) and baked tapioca (one of my favourite ) will be served for the boys. They also participate in Crib selection competition as well. Some make fountains, mountains, grass field , snow fall to attract the people. 

In the mean time they call their close friends who works in foreign countries and outside of Kanyakumari and asks about their leave for Christmas.  

After making Giant Cribs ( will take few days to finish ) they start decorating with lights and stars to give more attraction in night times and setup bass speakers to energize the visitors. After completing all setups, they wait for the Christmas Eve to showcase their cribs for the public, before that they cover the crib using tarpaulin or something. 

Okay let's get into the post.. 

In the third week of December people starts shopping . They take new dresses for everyone. At that time some main places like Marthandam, Nagercoil, Kulasekharam, etc.. will be more croweded than normal days. 

And some people from Kanyakumari who is working or studying outside of Kanyakumari will begin to come to their native place to celebrate Christmas. 

On 23rd and 24th December people do their last minute shopping in rushed manner. 

On december 24th the boys who make Christmas Cribs will open their cribs and showcase for the public with colorful lights and stars. 

Churches will conduct Christmas Eve function. After finishing the program several family members or friends groups starts roaming to see the lights and Christmas cribs around Kanyakumari till late night. 

Some guys don't attend the church program and starts roaming around Kanyakumari with full sounds by raising bike accelerator 😁. 

Some people organize DJ party to entertain the public. 

People starts cracking crackers to welcome Christmas. 

On the Christmas day, Early morning churches will be opened for early morning mass. They provide foods, shelter and money for needy peoples. And finally they serve cake for the people. 

After church, people make special food with meat and after food a piece of cake. 

In that week, Churches will conduct several programs in night times with childrens dance, skit to portrait the birth of jesus, singing, story telling  and some more activities will be held. 

School students enjoy their holidays ( Half yearly ) by going to Grandma's house or relatives house. 

December 31 - Churches will conduct special holy mass to welcome the New Year. On the night also many people roam with heavy noise like as Christmas day. They start cracking crackers everywhere. 

After that day daily routine will happen. People who works outside of Kanyakumari return back to their working place with full of memories 😇. 

Please Share with Kanyakumari Friends and ask "unmaiya makka" (Kanyakumari slang)