Staff Reporter, Rangpur :
The Christian community on Saturday celebrated their biggest religious festival Christmas through daylong colorful programmes and festivity to mark the birthday of Jesus Christ.
The authorities of Rangpur Sadar Baptists Church chalked out various programmes to celebrate the festivity abiding by the health directives due to the Covid-19 situation.
The programmes included morning prayers, recitation from the holy Bible, carol singing, cutting Christmas cakes and decoration of Xmas trees at Sadar Baptists Church where representatives from 40 churches of Rangpur region participated in the celebrations.
The Christian community decorated the church with tiny blinking lights and illuminated Christmas trees, besides, special dishes were prepared in their families and the children were seen seeking blessings from their parents, relatives and elders.
DC Md. Asib Ahsan visited Rangpur Sadar Baptists Church and greeted the Christian community people marking the Christmas Day.
The Christian community leaders participated in the Christmas cake cutting ceremony along with a number of their community people, including children.
Father of Rangpur Regional Baptists Church Reverend Parosh Halder delivered a welcome speech greeting the Christian religious leaders and community people there in the morning.
Special prayers were offered at the church seeking divine blessings to ward off Covid-19 pandemic and for the welfare and continuous peace and prosperity of the country, its people and humanity as a whole.
Netrakona Correspondent reports: Christmas Day is being celebrated in all the churches and Christian hamlets under five upazilas – Durgapur, Kalmakanda, Purbadhala, Mohanganj and Netrakona Sadar amid festivity and due religious fervor on Saturday .
On the occasion, all the churches have been decorated with colorful balloons, flowers and Christmas trees. Besides, those churches have also been illuminated with colorful lights.
Christian community are celebrating the day by holding various programmes including offering special prayers, decorating and illuminating churches and worships and installing makeshift Christmas trees in the churches, worships and houses.
Netrakona District Police Administration has already taken fool-proof security measures in around all the churches and Christian hamlets to avert any untoward incidents and ensure peaceful celebration of the religious festival, said Superintendent of Police (SP) Netrakona Akber Ali Munshi. The government has already allocated 74 tonnes of rice for 148 churches of the district to assist the Christian community for celebrating their happy Christmas day with enthusiasm, district administration sources said. Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner of Netrakona Kazi Mohammad Abdur Rahman in a massage issued here greeted the Christian community on the occasion and requested them to celebrate the day maintaining proper health guidelines to avert the Covid-19 spread.
Gouripur (Mymensingh) Correspondent says: Members of the Christian community in Gouripur upazila of Mymensingh on Saturday celebrated Christmas with much enthusiasm, festivity and religious fervour.
Most families spent Christmas Eve together, opening their gifts, talking and laughing, while Christmas songs linger in the background. Everyone heads off to bed quite early, as Bara Din is usually a busy day for all..
Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the Christians, is also a celebration of rebirth, new beginning, forgiveness and peace. For the believers, it is an occasion to renew relationship between God and humans.
According to Christian belief, Virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus Christ in the city of Bethlehem on this day.
Marking the carnival, Christians were seen offering special prayers at Gouripur Baptist Church as in some other villages of this upazila. The prayer houses and adjoining areas decked out with colourful tiny blinking lights. Illuminated Christmas trees were placed with a star standing right on top.
District President of North Mymensingh Unit of Bangladesh Baptist Church, Huebard Chakrabarthy, inhabitant of Gouripur Upazila said to the New Nation, Apart from organizing special prayers in churches, cutting cakes, carol singing, exchange of pleasantries and decoration of X-mas trees were the other main features of the day.
BSS from Bogura adds: Christmas Day, the largest religious festival of the Christian community, was celebrated in the district with much enthusiasm and festivity on Saturday. Marking the day, a special prayer was held at Christian Upasnalaya of the Missionary Hospital in the city this morning following health safety guidelines due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. Besides, special prayers were offered at different churches in the district seeking peace, progress and prosperity of the world including Bangladesh.
Marking the great celebration, the city’s churches were decorated and illuminated. Pastor Gilbert Mridha, President of Christian Upasnalaya of the Missionary Hospital, Robert Robin Marandi and the Christian community leaders participated in the Christmas cake cutting ceremonies.
