Christmas being celebrated

The Christian community is celebrating Christmas Day in Bangladesh like elsewhere in the world on Thursday in a befitting manner commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the Christian community, is the celebration of rebirth, new beginning, forgiveness and peace, and renewing relationship with God and human beings.

The celebrations of the Christmas Day feature decoration of Christmas trees with colourful lights, special prayers, and distribution of gifts among children and exchange of pleasantries.  Christmas carols and hymns are sung before and after the prayer sessions at the churches. Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar and different private TV channels and radio stations are airing programmes highlighting the significance of the day.

Chief Adviser Dr Muhammad Yunus exchanged greetings with representatives of the Christian community at the State Guesthouse Jamuna in Dhaka marking Christmas Day on Wednesday. The Chief Adviser said the interim government aims to build a healthy society, adding that the July Charter has been prepared to uphold the spirit of the mass uprising.

“You are the mirror of society. By looking at you, we can understand whether everything is in order,” Prof Yunus said while exchanging Christmas greetings with representatives of the Christian community. Archbishop Bejoy N D’Cruze described Jesus Christ as a universal figure and said that inspired by Christ’s ideals of forgiveness and service to humanity, millions of people around the world, including in Bangladesh, are celebrating Christmas with joy and enthusiasm.

Leaders of the Christian Religious Welfare Trust also thanked the interim government for granting Tk 2.5 crore to the trust on the occasion of Christmas. They said the grant is being distributed in three phases among 800 churches across the country.