Kerala celebrates Christmas

The Christian community in Kerala on Saturday celebrated Christmas with traditional fervour, pomp and enthusiasm.

The festive spirit started with the midnight mass which was held in churches across the state. Senior bishops and priests delivered the Christmas message.

While Cardinal Mar Baselios Cleemis led the midnight mass at the St Mary's Cathedral of Syro Malankara Catholic Church in the state capital, Cardinal Mar George Alanchery of Syro Malabar Catholic Church conducted the service in Kochi and gave out the Christmas message.

Celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, people decorated their homes with bright, colourful lights and a Christmas tree.

Feasts were prepared and which were shared with neighbours and friends.

Devotees said unlike previous year's Christmas celebrations which were dampened by COVID-19 restrictions, there were no restrictions in place for this year's Christmas celebrations.

However, people maintained vigil by wearing masks, using sanitizer and keeping distance in view of spread of Omicron variant of coronavirus, they said.

Kerala has reported 37 cases of Omicron so far.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)