by a Pioneer in India
We really appreciate the Christmas season and we celebrate it here in India. Indians love holidays and festivals. They celebrate almost everything from full moons, seasonal changes and the birthdays of their own gods (with 3,000,000 gods there or plenty of birthday parties happening). All this focus on festivals has caused us to really evaluate the way we celebrate Christmas and how we can make the most of the celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world. So…
IStep 1: De-Santa Claus Christmas. There is a lot of confusion here about what Christmas is. Most people call it “Xmas”—not realizing it has anything to do with Christ at all. Just as many people assume it’s Santa Claus’ birthday. The 12-year-old girl across the street told us that Santa Claus comes to our house first because we’re Christians. Wow, really? So while Santa Claus is, for the most part, a harmless part of the Christmas tradition as it’s celebrated in the West, he brings much confusion and distraction to celebrating Christ’s Mass where we are.
Step 2: Do Advent. The Hindu view of Christians is that we don’t know how to party or throw a good festival or holiday. This is somewhat true. We basically have two festivals a year that each, typically, only last one day. This is strange for a people who have a single festival that lasts up to ten days. One of the ways we can extend our Christmas season is by celebrating Advent. This turns a one-day event into a four-week time of preparation. We light diyas instead of candles and use marigolds instead of evergreen wreaths because these items are typically associated with the worship of God. But, the idea is the same. For the entire first week we light one diya every night and set it outside. The second week we light two, the third week we light three and the fourth week we have four diyas every night. This has done wonders in creating curiosity and anticipation in our community.
The reason I’m even writing is because two days ago a neighbor boy came over for some help with his computer. Before leaving he stopped, turned around and came back to where I was to ask about why we are lighting a diya every night. I was so pumped. I took him to our Advent wreath (tray of diyas) and was able to explain to him the four diyas (hope, peace, joy, love, Jesus). I was very purposeful in talking about why we have hope in the second coming and about how Jesus gives us peace. We believe it’s these types of seeds that will eventually bare fruit in this barren land.