YPOST: Christmas in Kolkata

The run up to Christmas starts nearly a month in advance. The city’s Anglo-Indian households get into the festive mood and preparations start for the big day ahead – or Burra Din as it is called here. The excitement in and around New Market is palpable. Baubles, bells, toy Santas and of course the faux fir trees are aplenty. Cake shops are busy with the cake mixing – in fact Flurys has a cake mixing ceremony which takes place a month before Christmas where all the various dried fruits are mixed with juices and rum. The city’s meat shops also get busy with the preparation of salt beef.

As it gets closer to Christmas, Kolkata gets its few weeks of the elusive winters. It is a homecoming of sorts for many Anglo-Indians who have moved to Canada, US and the UK. The Bow Barracks, off Central Avenue along with Wellesley Street, Elliot Road and Ripon Street, where most of Kolkata’s Anglo Indians live transforms into the veritable tinsel town.

If you are in Kolkata during Christmas, you must visit the Bow Barracks to witness the festivities. There are a number of events lined up from the 23rd of December all the way to New Year’s Eve. The highlight for the children in the neighbourhood is Santa Claus arriving on a rickshaw – can it get more Kolkatan than this? About 700 children – not limited to Christians – get snacks and gifts – all made possible by funds raised by the Anglo-Indian community.

But one cannot ignore Park Street. No way! Flurys is stocked from floor to ceiling with its unbeatable mince pies, Dundee cakes, plum puddings and other seasonal varieties like Yule logs, chocolate cones and nougatines. In fact it stays open all day and night on the 24th of December.

The midnight of the 24th of December is always reserved for the midnight mass at St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was consecrated as the first Episcopal Church of the Orient in 1847. It is surely a treat to be there with the whole service conducted in candlelight as every Kolkatan irrespective of caste and creed joins hands in prayer. Apart from St Paul’s, midnight masses also happen at St. Thomas’ Church, St. John’s Church and Portuguese Church.