Kolkata christmas festival begins on 20th december

Silent night, holy night, mary's boy child or hark the herald angels are among the christmas carols which have become a part of our existence since our childhood. Almost all of us play them on the christmas irrespective of our religion. We all have waited with bated breath for the santa claus during our childhood to visit and bring gifts for us. We may have grown big but still the nostalgia remains the same. We still bask in the nostalgia of church bell ringing or standing in the long queue outside any confectionery shop waiting to purchase the special christmas cakes. Many of us tune to radio stations to hear the midnight mass. Imagine all this comes to you in one place on this christmas. Well, this is exactly the idea behind organizing the kolkata christmas festival ( dec 20 - 22 ), an initiative taken by the bengal government.



Highlights of the event :

1. Carol singing

The opening of the festival will be followed by a carol singing session in which several churches will take part. Leading christian organizations including the methodist Church of north India, catholic churches, The seventh day adventist church and the church of north India will be taking part in the festivities.


2. Food and music carnival

The biggest attraction will be on the second day when a part of park street will be shut down for a food and music carnival. Traffic movement will be restricted for four hours between 1 pm and 5 pm to make way for a carnival. As many as twenty five food stalls representing communities like anglo-Indian, goan, chinese, bengali, malayali, nepali and parsi will be set up. Stalls will sell christmas goodies, cakes and christmas decorations also will be there. Public christmas carols will be sung by different church choirs.

3. Music concert

A music concert featuring usha uthup, bhoomi, hip pocket with rila banerjee, the saturday night blues band and orient express will be performing.

4. Other attractions

Children will be dressing up to pose with father christmas for photographs. Underprivileged children of the neighborhood will be given gifts.