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PHOTOS: How the world celebrated Christmas

December 25, 2015 11:17 IST
Yes, it's the time of the year again!
 
On this joyous occasion, rediff.com wishes all its readers 'Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,' as we a take a look at pictures of Christmas festivities from across the globe.
 
Santa Claus items are seen displayed for sale on Christmas Eve at a street market in Cairo, Egypt. Photograph: Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters
 
A couple pose for a selfie in front of a large Christmas tree in Bryant Park during unseasonably warm weather on Christmas Eve in the Manhattan borough of New York. Photograph: Carlo Allegri/Reuters
 

People dressed as Father Frost, equivalent of Santa Claus, and Snow Maiden visit a child on the eve of Christmas in a burn unit of a hospital in Minsk, Belarus. Photograph: Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters

Burning Yule logs and fireworks are seen in front of Sokolica church during the eve of the Orthodox Christmas, in Ravna Romanija, Bosnia ands Herzegovina. Photograph: Dado Ruvic/Reuters

People spray artificial snow during Christmas eve celebrations in Hengyang, Hunan province. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters

Tourists wearing Santa hats and Australian flag-inspired bikinis take a selfie in the surf as they celebrate Christmas Day on Sydney's Bondi Beach. Phoptograph: Jason Reed/Reuters

Pope Francis holds the statue of baby Jesus as he leads the Christmas night mass in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican. Photograph: Tony Gentile/Reuters

People light candles outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral on the eve of Christmas Day in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: Vijay Verma/ PTI

Thousands of revellers celebrated Christmas across the nation with most churches holding the traditional midnight mass.

Security has been heightened at churches across India on Christmas Eve, taking into consideration a series of untoward incidents at Christian institutes around the same time last year.

Policemen stand guard outside the Sacred Heart Cathedral on the eve of Christmas Day in New Delhi on Thursday. Photograph: Vijay Verma/ PTI

Kolkata was all decked up with lights, balloons, Christmas trees and other decorations to welcome the occasion and witnessed a huge number of people taking to the streets to soak in the revelry.

Children dressed as Santas form the word 'Peace'. Photograph: PTI

Starting from Park Street, Allen Park, Bow Barracks, St Paul's Cathedral and other famous churches in and around the city to other major landmarks, revellers poured out in thousands with the evening slipping into midnight.

Kolkata Police have tightened the security measures in the city and till midnight had arrested 50 persons for disorderly conduct, a senior officer of the force told PTI.

Three men dressed as Santa in Bhopal. Photograph: PTI

Around 500 police personnel were deployed in the Park Street area only, the nerve-centre of Christmas revelry with officers of Deputy Commissioner rank overseeing the situation.

Meanwhile, the St Sebastian Catholic Church in Delhi’s Dilshad Garden, our Lady of Grace Church in west Delhi's Vikaspuri and St Alphonsa's Church in Vasant Kunj, which had all witnessed incidents ranging from arson to burglary between last December and March this year, are among the top secured churches in the city, said a senior police official.

A group of girls pose infront of an illuminated St Basilica church on the eve of Christmas celebration in Bengaluru on Thursday. Photograph: Shailendra Bhojak/ PTI

"All necessary arrangements have been made in and around churches and Christian institutes at other places in the city wherever gatherings are expected before and on Christmas day," said Delhi Police spokesperson Rajan Bhagat.

Children took to wearing Santa's hats in Ahmedabad. Photograph: PTI

The churches have been put under round-the-clock security from the past few days, with personnel provided by the police stations under whose jurisdiction they come.

The security personnel are briefed by the concerned station house officers everyday and senior officials review the arrangements on a regular basis, an official said.

Voicing concern over the "increasing dose of intolerance" holding sway over the lives of people, Archbishop of Goa Filipe Neri Ferrao on Thursday called for better understanding, reconciliation and peace as enshrined in the message of Christmas.

Christian Community people lighting candles at St Pauls Cathedral during Christmas celebration in Kolkata on Thursday. Photograph: Ashok Bhaumik/ PTI

"Sadly we find an increasing dose of intolerance holding sway in our lives. Not only people of different creeds and cultures, but people of the same family drift away from each other because of this intolerance and unforgivingness," Ferrao said in his Christmas message released today.

Citing the 'Year of Mercy' declared by Pope Francis, he called for prayers for "more understanding, more mercy, more reconciliation and peace."

St Paul's Church in Amritsar bathed in bright lights. Photograph: PTI

Spiritual leader of over three lakh Catholics in the coastal state, Ferrao said, "We are in the year of the family and very recently our Pope Francis inaugurated the year of mercy."

"Let us pray for all families as well as for various social and religious communities. Let there be more understanding, more mercy more reconciliation and peace," he said.

Kids dressed up as Santa Claus during Christmas celebrations in a school in Amritsar. Photograph: PTI

"If the Holy Babe lies helpless in the crib, we feel encouraged to approach him with the situations of unrest in the world, in our country and in our state... We pray that the Babe of Bethlehem, the Prophet of Peace, may encourage us all to promote dialogue and reconciliation and to sustain our efforts to build peace," the Archbishop added.

Students of a school celebrating Christmas with Kandivali Cylinder blast victims kids in Mumbai. Photograph: PTI 

"On this happy occasion of Christmas, we cannot but echo this hymn of joy, the joy of the birth of Jesus, the Son of God-made man. Sharing in the joy of the Christian community, on their behalf and in my name, I extend greetings of peace and truth, mercy and kindness to all people of goodwill in this state," Ferrao stated in a release issued on the Christmas eve.

Children dressed up as Santa Claus during Christmas celebrations in Dharmanagar, Tripura. Photograph: PTI

"In this Year of the Jubilee of the Mercy of God, we pray especially that the Prince of Peace may encourage us to be ever more efficient instruments of forgiveness and understanding, in the present and in the future," the archbishop stated.

With inputs from PTI.

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