HOW WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS FESTIVAL IN NEPAL
Christmas is a popular festival celebrated by all Christians. It is celebrated on 25th December which is observed as the birthday of Jesus Christ. Christmas Eve is celebrated on the 24th December. On Christmas Eve, they decorate a pine tree called Christmas Tree with candles, colorful papers, balloons, and flowers. They keep the presents and cards given by their friends and relatives under this tree. They open them later to know who owns the most and best of them.
The Christmas father is Santa Claus. It is believed that he copies during the night and leaves presents for the children their socks. During the day, they go to the church and pray together. They pay for special caps and new clothes. 26th December is known as ‘Boxing Day’. Rio people give boxes of gift or money, food and clothes to the poor. They visit the friends and relatives on the occasion and have a lot of fun until 1st January.
Nepalese people also celebrate Christmas festival in 25th December as the people of USA are celebrating.
CHRISTMAS DAY CELEBRATION IN NEPAL
Nepal is a Hindu overwhelmed nation. Amid the Nepali celebrations of Dashain and Tihar, most eateries are shut on the grounds that families lead Pooja (religious service) in their homes. Families cook their suppers at home and celebrate. Nepali celebrations are additionally generally family undertakings. Companions barely get an opportunity to celebrate among themselves. For my situation, Christmas is a decent event for companions to assemble and celebrate.
Maybe expanding presentation to societies of the West is the explanation behind this association. Simple access to the web and interchanges has helped in understanding societies unfamiliar to our own. Christmas has assumed an uncommon position in Nepali culture. Christmas is celebrated on the 25th day of December commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. He is preacher and leader around whom the bases of Christianity are built. He is considered to be the Son of the God Messiah (Christ). Christianity is a monotheist Religion.
Numerous Nepali Christians will go to uncommon church administrations at midnight on Christmas Eve and conceivably on Christmas Day. Nepal watches the December 25th date of Christmas, and a large number of their Christmas customs are “foreign made” from the West.
Adherents will go to Christmas parties with loved ones, trade displays, and beautify their homes with Christmas lights and Christmas trees. The trees will be decked out with trimmings, for example, chimes, stars, reindeer, and scaled down portrayals of wrapped endowments. Christmas shopping begins up toward the beginning of December. On Christmas Morning, those observing Christmas will go going to at companions’ homes to wish them a joyful Christmas, yet at night, Christmas supper is eaten by the family and any visitors. While the fate of Christmas in Nepal is misty to the extent open acknowledgment, and some may now experience issues in getting off work to observe Christmas, you can make certain that there will, in any case, be Christmas exercises in Nepal in any case.
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, originated on the being and knowledge of Jesus Christ, who is the heart of the Christian devotion. Christianity is the world’s prevalent religious conviction, in the midst of over 2.4 billion devotees, or one-third of the worldwide inhabitants, identified as Christians. Christians craft up a greater part of the inhabitants in one hundred and fifty-eight states and provinces. Christians do consider Jesus to be the Son of God and the savior of humankind. Christianity believes that birth of Christ was a Prophesy. And his arrival as the Messiah (the Christ) was predicted in the Old testimonies.
Christianity has played an important element in the influence of Western development. To close one might say that the Christmas is a prominent celebration in Nepal praised generally among Christian families and furthermore among the young as an opportunity to appreciate some time together. In spite of contentions and many restrictions the Christian people group keeps on developing. All things considered, the religious concordance that Nepal so gladly holds as a genuine temperance keeps on being served by the festival of such overall culture. It is in Nepal’s advantage to go about as an exceptional country on the off chance that we can influence the most to out of such prevalent celebration and also religion.
Students dressed in Santa Claus costumes perform as part of their Christmas celebrations in their school
Christianity is believed to have been grown out of Judaism and begun as a Second Temple Judaic wing during the mid of first century. Initially Originated in the Roman territory of Judea, it promptly stretches to Europe, Mesopotamia, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, Transcaucasia, Ethiopia and the Indian subcontinent, including our country Nepal, and by the closing stages of the 4th century had grown to be the authorized state church of the Roman kingdom. Subsequent to the era of finding, Christianity extends to the Americas, Oceania, and sub-Saharan Africa and to the rest of the globe all the way through messenger job and through Europe’s colonization.
According to history, Christian spirituality is summed up in doctrines such as the Apostles’ doctrine and the Nicene doctrine. This vocation of devotion affirms that Jesus undergoes pain, died, was buried, thrown to hell, and ascended from the deceased to life, so as to endow perpetual life to folks who confide in him and confide in him for the diminution of their peccadilloes. The doctrines further uphold that Jesus actually rose into paradise, where the rules with divinity the Father in the accord of the Holy Spirit, and that Christ shall revisit to critic the breathing and the deceased and endow perpetual life to his devotees.
His embodiment, mortal bureau, crucifixion, and revivification are time and again referred to as “the gospel”, implying “superior news”. The word gospel, in addition, refers to in print accounts of Jesus’ being and lessons, four of which Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are well thought-out to be the canonical and are incorporated in the Christian Bible, as establish by the 5th century for the prehistoric intact Catholic and Eastern Orthodox society prior to the East-West split.
All the way through its olden times, Christianity has battered split and had theological clashes that have resulted in numerous distinctive churches and denominations. Globally, the prime twigs of Christianity are the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, in addition to thousands of denominations and worshippers of Protestantism, the final due to primarily dissimilar ecclesiology. The Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches closed relationship with one another in the East-West rift of 1054 A.D. It is believed that Protestantism appears into reality in the 16th century during Protestant Reformation, while splitting from the Catholic Church.
Christian practices differ by the value of the place to place, however, ordinary rudiments encompass of Sunday reverence activities, confidential and shared prayer, revise and interpretation of the Manuscripts, and chip in the rites of baptism and spiritual union. Idiosyncratic Catholic rituals include an appreciation of seven sacraments, devotion to Mary and the saints, and worship of vestiges and sanctified sites linked with sacred figures. Eastern Orthodoxy holds many rituals that are familiar with Catholicism, however, is chiefly distinguished by the vital character of icons.
One of the most significant Christian celebrations is Easter, a spring holiday that celebrates Christ’s revivification from the deceased. Easter is right away proceeding by sacred Week that incorporates Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. The 40 days proceeding to Easter form the Lenten period, an instant of fasting and repentance. A further holiday that has turned out to be significant is Christmas, which celebrates the confinement of Jesus on December 25 (January 6 in Orthodox Churches). Saints’ days are also equally significant. Some of these, include days such as St. Patrick’s Day and St. Valentine’s Day, have come into existence a prominent role in popular American culture.
Christianity is one of the major religions followed in Nepal after Hinduism, Buddhism, and Kirat. Christianity is believed to enter Nepal through the people who lived outside Nepal especially in Christian dominated cultures. These Nepalese used to live outside Nepal where they learned about Christianity and helped introduce Christianity in the country.
During the rule of Rana prime ministers, there were hundreds of Nepalese soldiers and Nepalese families living in India and the even United Kingdom. After the collapse of the Rana Regime, these families returned home to Nepal carrying the cultural diversity that they have learned in the foreign land. Different fellowship, membership agencies and other mission practice from various parts of the world that came to Nepal also influenced the growth and sustenance of Christianity in Nepal. Recent Data according to the census of 2011 showed around 1.4% of total Nepalese to be Christians. Majority of these Christians are Protestants. Therefore it is an assured thing to say that Christmas is an expected to be bright and joyous festival by lots of people in the country. Christmas day is one of such day in which the ethnic and religious harmony of our country Nepal becomes visible and prominent.
Like all elsewhere, Christmas day in Nepal is celebrated on the day of 25th of December. Christmas day is declared as a public holiday by the Government of Nepal. Christmas has been recognized in Nepal as one of the national festivals of the country since the year 2007. It was then for the first tie Nepal was declared a secular state showing respect to all the religions being equal in the eye of the law. In Nepali, it is called Yashu Jayanti. “Yashu” meaning “Jesus” and “Jyanti” meaning birth.
Christmas is celebrated on the 25th day of December commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. He is preacher and leader around whom the bases of Christianity are built. He is considered to be the Son of the God Messiah (Christ). The Christmas day is accompanied by many other days with their own values serving to the religion. There is Good Friday honoring the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and then there is Easter that commemorates and celebrates the resurrection. The widely used Ad calendar also means in Latin anno Domini meaning in the year of the Lord.
Christianity is an increasing trend in Nepal. With increasing globalization via access to the Internet and increasing longing towards ravishing western lifestyle and culture, Christmas has been popular even among non-Christians. Youth are more attracted towards the festival as they get a day more to celebrate happiness with their friends. They usually celebrate it by throwing a Christmas Eve party, traveling to snowy hills and lighting candles.
Below are the lists of things that are performed during the festival of Christmas in Nepal:
1. PRAYERS:
Yes, praying is one of the most important things that are done during the day of Christmas. Every religion has its own unique way of praying. Hindus, Fold their hands, Muslims open their hands etc. Similarly, Christians have their own way of praying to their lord, their savior Jesus Christ. In successive Christian customs, definite bodily gestures are given emphasis to, including medieval shrug such as genuflection or creating the symbol of the cross. Kneeling, bowing and prostrations are frequently practiced in further conventional brushwood of Christianity. Recurrently in Western Christianity, the hands are positioned palms jointly and frontward as in the feudal award services. At additional times the older orans stance might be used, with palms up and elbows in. Thus, the devotees of Christianity celebrate the biggest festival of the year by praying to their Lord Christ, Asking for blessing and forgiveness for their sins.
2. CHRISTMAS CHORES:
Christmas in Nepal is celebrated by mainly attending churches. The preparation of the Christmas within the Christians starts from almost a month early around the beginning of December. The church plans its own Christmas service while family and friends are busy with their own plan for the Christmas. On the Christmas, even Nepalese Christians enjoy their time on decorating their houses and homes with lights. Christmas tree is brought in the house. The tree is then decorated with shiny objects and lights and ornaments like bells start miniature stature of re indeed etc to make it Christmassy. The churches offer special services on the night of Christmas Eve. The Nepali Christian together sing carol and sing the holiness songs and other Christmas songs to relive and commemorate the lord.
In the day of the Christmas too the followers of the religion go to visit the church early in the morning and then they together with family, friends, and they exchange gifts and presents. They exchange the popular greeting of Merry Christmas among each other. Families and friends who have planned together will stay together for dinner and make a huge feast thanking God for the delightful time and being with them at the good and the bad times. Some people dine at the fancy restaurant, to celebrate the occasion.
Whereas, as some stay home, cook the meal and watch Christmas movies. There are various Christmas games that are played during the Christmas Holidays. Even with seventy percent of the entire population of Nepal is Hindu, the country shows a religious harmony, as its people are self-indulged in celebrating Christmas even when they stand out to be non-Christians. Christmas in Nepal not only shows the dedicated followers of Christianity in Nepal but it also shows the great religious harmony that exists in Nepal. It is seen that people from other religion also seem to be involved and entertained by the ambiance of Christmas.
