The Christmas Holiday in India
Largely enclosed by the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea, India shares its borders with Burma and Pakistan. With a population topping one billion citizens, India is the second most densely populated in the country in the world, second to China, as well as the seventh largest country (covering the largest geographical area) in the world. An overwhelming percent of the citizens in India practice Hindu or Buddhism as a religion. It is for this very reason that Christmas, being a largely Christian holiday, is not celebrated as an official holiday in the country.
In the areas of India where Christmas is celebrated and the population of Christian people is a little denser, Christian churches are gaily decorated in large leaves and numerous poinsettia plants. Since Christmas falls during the warmest part of the year in India, people tend to decorate tropical mango trees and banana trees, covering them with lights, and hanging candy, red-striped candy canes, cookies, and even Christmas ornaments on them. The classic, traditional versions of Christmas trees such as fir trees, spruce trees, and pine trees are not often seen in Indian Christmas celebrations. They are usually had by the very wealthy only, because they are not native to India and so they must be shipped into the country at an extremely high price. To some people, having a classic Christmas celebration is worth the extra dollars it costs to import evergreen trees from other areas of the world.
In some of the more densely populated Christian cities in India, oil-burning lamps made of a softer type of clay from the earth may be used as decorative Christmas lighting. They are set along the edges of sidewalks, along walls, along the edges of flat roofs, and on stoops to light the night time and bring the Christmas spirit into a country where the holiday is not officially celebrated.
Since Christians in India go to such great lengths to celebrate Christmas in a country where it is not of the more dominant faith, most of the Christmas celebration is spent in remembrance of the true meaning of Christmas. Time is taken out to tell the story of Mary, pregnant riding a donkey being led along by her weary husband as they are refused lodging door after door after door. The time is used to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, and people take time out to attend masses at all times during the day, including very early (as early as 5 or 6 o'clock in the morning) and as late as midnight.
Non-Christian people in India do celebrate a warm winter holiday during the same time the Christians celebrate Christmas. This holiday is called Diwali, and it is a custom of the Indian people to make small clay pots that burn oil (similar to the aforementioned kind) and hang them from rooftops; the oil gives off a warm glow and gives a festive, celebratory feel to the people.