A tree lights up the small living room of Brian’s house while relatives mill around chatting amiably to each other. A huge cream cake sits in the middle of their table surrounded with several other things for lunch. Its Christmas time and everyone that Brian had not seen in a long time has come together at his house this year for a family lunch.
Traditionally, the Christmas tree is decorated with tinsels and colourful balls, and a bright star sits atop the tree which is in fact made of polyester, and is not real, being much more affordable for anyone to keep for the coming years.
Sunday was a busy day for much of Lahore. A Jamaat-e-Islami sit-in, and a PML-N rally at ring road took up many people’s time and while the birth anniversary of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah was also remembered like every year, Christians in Lahore flocked to churches and to each other’s houses to celebrate their much awaited festival. As usual, two major gatherings were held at the Cathedral, The Mall and Saint Anthony’s on Lawrence Road.
“The weather is always so good at Christmas,” says Brian. “It’s not too cold and thankfully it’s not hot, so this brightens up our day even more. Who wants a sweltering day for Christmas?”
His sisters are all dressed up, wearing their best clothes that they have made for the day.
The day started with a Mass Service at church. Almost all churches in Lahore were filled with attending devotees, who listened to services by the Bishop of Lahore, and other bishops and pastors, who in their services highlighted the significance of Jesus Christ (as) and said his message of love, peace and empathy must be spread throughout the world. In fact the message was not just limited to the Christian world, but all communities.
Almost all the houses of Christians all over the city were decorated with lights and stars. Houses lit up dark streets, with illuminated stars. Meanwhile hotels and shopping malls–those that were open–were decorated too and burly Santa Clauses roamed around in the lobbies giving a fun look to the whole place. But many people could not afford to celebrate Christmas too well.
Peter Jacob who lives in Makka Colony says that the expenses are so high that it has become difficult to enjoy any day in the year, even if its Christmas or Easter. A fake Christmas tree costs around Rs 6,500, he says. And even if it was less, they did not have enough to buy its decorations.
“Still, Christmas for us is about family and friends and spreading love,” he says smiling down at his ten year old son who is with him. “Things are quite depressing the rest of the year so we make it a point not to think about them on this special day.” Around 4000 policemen of Elite Force, Quick Response Force, Mujahid Squad and Janbaz Force were deputed for security of churches and high risk places in the city.
