Mangaluru : The Christians of coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kasargod celebrated Christmas with great pomp and gaiety. Most of the churches had grand Christmas mass at night. Mangalore diocese Bishop Rev Dr Aloysius Paul D’Souza concelebrated the grand mass at Rosario Cathedral, while Udupi diocese Bishop Rev Dr Gerald Isaac Lobo concelebrated the grand mass at Udupi Cathedral.

Msgr Denis Moras Prabhu, Fr J B Crasta, Fr Rocky Fernandes, Fr Vincent D’Souza, Fr Anil Fernandes, Fr Vincent Dsouza were the concelebrants. Vice-president C J Simon and secretary Elizabeth Roche were present among others.

The Eucharistic Mass began after carol singing.

Bishop Dr Aloysius D’Souza, in his Christmas message, said that though we live in modern times with the advent of technology, we should realise that our life does not end here but continues to the next stage of eternal life. So the teachings of Jesus will always remain relevant and necessary.

Almost all the churches in the coastal districts had started the preparations for making the crib about a month ago and the final touches were given on the eve of Christmas. In Mangaluru city – all the churches including Cathedral (Rosario), Lady of Miracles (Milagres), St Sebastin’s church (Bendoor), Holy Cross church (Kulshekar), Infant Jesus shrine (Bikarnakatta), St Joseph’s Seminary (Jeppu), St Rita’s church (Casia), Guardian Angel church (Angelore), St Lawrence (Bondel), Mother Theresa (Paldane), St Francis Xavier church (Bejai) and Our Lady of Immaculate Conception (Urwa) had set up cribs. A few churches had recreated Bethlehem – the birth place of Jesus Christ.

Many churches will be organising sports activities and fun games for the parisheners on Monday.

In fact, the city has been wearing a festive look for the past few days. Be it making crib, decorating roofs/ apartments with Christmas stars or making ‘kuswar’ (the traditional sweets made during Christmas season which include nevryo, kideo, gulio, kokkisan, rice laddu, tukdi and cakes), every Catholic household was busy in one or the other way.

Many wellknown bakeries made a brisk business while a number of shop owners had set up ‘temporary’ bakeries by the roadside in many places in the city. Many bakeries had ‘gift pack of kuswar’ costing between Rs 350 and Rs 650. As many families now prefer to buy kuswar rather than prepare it at home, the spirit of Christmas has been dampened to some extent.

But keeping up with tradition, many Christians exchanged the kuswar with their brethren and also distributed it among non-Christians.