Spending Christmas in Calcutta is certainly one of those experiences that you will always keep in your heart. The Christmas here is full of meaning where Santa Claus may not be present, but there are presents, there is delicious food, and the Christmas spirit is latent in the smiles of the people.
December arrives, energy is renewed and the Christmas season begins. In Calcutta, Christmas is synonymous with the celebration of the winter solstice. Churches are decorated with thousands of lights and display their most beautiful nativity scenes. Choir groups prepare their voices to set the mood for the holidays by singing Christmas carols and trees (any type) are suddenly dressed with stars, coloured balls and the brightest decorations you can imagine.
Calcutta is also known for its Christmas celebrations. Known as Bada din, or the long day, Christmas is celebrated in Kolkata by one and all with western traditions but adapted to the local culture and foreign traditions blended together. If you want to enjoy a Bada Din that is the Christmas and a different New Year a trip to Kolkata is beautiful during this time.
Christmas markets open up in the busiest streets and parks and kitchens are witness to the creation of new recipes to surprise guests at this time of year. Christmas Day is called “Boro Din” which means “Big Day”. In anglo-Indian homes there are family gatherings around the table, where there is no shortage of music, laughter, and an endless number of sweets and various delicacies. Surely their preparations are more spicy and pungent than those you will serve on your table.
And the Christmas tree is a faithful follower of this. Although there are artificial fir trees, here most of these very Christmassy trees are on the postcards. Christmas carols can be heard in churches from the voices of the most prestigious choirs, in children's circles in the streets and in small soul concerts.
The celebration of Christmas in Calcutta is legendary and dates back to the 18th century, when it was still the headquarters of the East India Company. In Calcutta, now called Kolkata, Christmas is unique. No other Indian city is so decorated for this time of year.
In Calcutta, a melting pot of cultures and religions coexist, but at Christmas they all come together and celebrate this date as a symbol of love, union and community.
December is one of the best months to visit here. The city seems newly cleaned in December, after six months of monsoon and the humidity give way to a dryer and fresher air. Locals begin to take out their wool socks and shawls when the temperature at night falls below 15 degrees Celsius.
The city centre is lit up with giant Christmas trees and huge figurines of Santa Claus. People dance in the streets of Bow Barracks (the former Anglo-Indian area). There are open-air concerts, choirs, midnight mass, and the typical plum cakes sweeten the festivities.
If you are in Kolkata during Christmas, you cannot miss the New Market and Lindsey Street where you can enjoy a stroll through the Christmas shopping paradise. You can find Christmas trees, decorations, a reindeer sleigh and all the Christmas delicacies such as turkey or the best ingredients for your cakes and puddings. Don't miss the Christmas cakes from the legendary Jewish bakery Nahoums.
The highlight of the table during this time is Christmas cakes. Trays piled high with cakes combine traditional delicacies and special Christmas delicacies. There is never a lack of plum pudding (the British left but the pudding stayed), dry fruit cakes, cardamom biscuits and jam.
On Christmas Eve it is typical to eat stuffed turkey (most tables serve chicken as it is more present in the gastronomy and in the markets here) as the main dish but all the tables are decked out with succulent curries, rice dishes and more.
Here people take the celebration of Christmas very seriously, who each year celebrate the nativity of Jesus. On my trip to Kolkata I notice that even in the outskirts of Kolkata everything is filled with an atmosphere of colors and lights.I stroll through the crowded Chowringhee, Calcutta's main boulevard. I also go christmas shopping at New Market, a vestige of British days where you can still look for bargains. While we are there, we eat special christmas cakes at Nahoum's, a former Jewish bakery. It is especially famous for its fruit cakes during the Christmas season, a favorite for Jews and non-Jews alike. At night, I turn onto Park Street, full of restaurants and nightclubs. During the holidays, Park Street competes with the best with its light show, winter markets and festivities. Red and green decorations prevail in the shops and homes.
The churches organize different activities such as masses celebrated at midnight on December 24. It has a duration of about one hour, but those that take place here last from 2 to 3 hours. I find besides Christians, and people from other communities offering prayers and singing Christmas carols at Midnight Mass in the churches. During this time prayers for peace are prayed, dramatizations are performed and sung.
After the mass, the devotees carry out festivals through the main streets. Everything is very simple full of color, music and above all, a lot of joy. The days before Christmas shops and houses take great care to decorate their houses. It is customary to place the traditional Christmas tree and decorate it. In the villages the people adorn the mango and banana trees. They also use lamps that is part of everything you can live in your trip to Kolkata at Christmas and New Year.
Continue your route with a stroll down Park Street and enjoy the magic of the city's most illuminated street during Christmas and its most succulent street food stalls. The street is crowded and everyone seems really happy.
You'll find unique restaurants at the members-only Bengal and Calcutta Clubs, where white-gloved waiters politely serve centuries-old Anglo-Indian cuisine like Railway Mutton curry, vindaloo (curry with pork or chicken), and mulligatawny soup.
If you're not a member or a member's guest, you can sample these delicacies at the charming, cozy Anglo-Indian stalls on Park Street during the Christmas season. And Park Street is Kolkata's traditional food hub, teeming with trendy restaurants, but the main attraction is still Flury's, the elegant tearoom that dates back to 1927—where people queue patiently outside the front door for a breakfast table and to buy some plum cakes to take home.
There are also open-air concerts with some of Kolkata's most famous musicians singing Christmas tunes and performances by the city's most famous choirs.
Everyone is happy and the party is also in the streets. The people here rush to buy the still warm Calcutta cake, mmm yeah it's really too good! There are also the fir trees and the garlands, the Christmas music that resounds in the CD shops.
On Christmas Eve attend the Midnight Mass at St. Paul's Cathedral, a unique experience that will leave you breathless. And like every celebration in Calcutta, there is an overdose of joy, colour and delicious food in the company of loved ones.
During the Christmas festivities people celebrate with parades. Everyone look forward to the arrival of Santa Claus. Here this friendly and good-natured character is known as Christmas Baba. Here he usually does not arrive in a sleigh or on horseback. He does it in the local style and can surprise arriving in a rickshaw usually decorated with Christmas motifs. The Christmas Baba arrives to distribute sweets and toys to all children.As we can see, Kolkata does not escape from the festive, happy, enlightened and festive atmosphere that Christmas and New Year. People wear new clothes, light their houses, sing Christmas carols in the streets. Christmas is celebrated in a big way but with a marked style of the place. The gifts are given and received. Families gather to share a delicious dinner with traditional pudding or confection made with coconut and rice flour. These delicious desserts are also given to family and friends at this time. The Calcuttans celebrate the occasion either at home, go to the restaurant or visit the Victoria Memorial or the Calcutta Zoo.
The city of joy becomes brighter and more alive during the Christmas season. The aroma of fruit cake and pastries fill the air and markets become crowded. Although, Christmas is not one of the main celebrations in Kolkata, the city has a bit of affection attached to it. Park Street is a place where the festive atmosphere is extravagant. And in all this I get lost in the lights, sound and music of Kolkata.
