VIJAYAWADA: Pomp and gaiety marked Christmas celebrations in the city on Monday. Festivities began even before the break of dawn with the faithful offering prayers in big queues, while others lit candles to celebrate the festival at churches.Large congregations were seen at famous Gunadala Mary Matha Shrine, St Paul’s Cathedral, St Paul’s Basilica and others where the devotees exchanged greetings and gifts.
Some of the restaurants and bakeries in the city offered Christmas pudding, fruit cakes and other traditional items on the menu which tickled the taste buds of the people. The malls which organised pre-Christmas celebrations over the weekend, concluded them on Monday by doling out various offers to customers.
Public representatives too participated in the programmes organised by various communities. Vijayawada (Central) MLA Bonda Umamaheswara Rao distributed saris to Christian women in a programme organised at Madhura Nagar by the Church of Christ Society. Others including Minister Kollu Ravindra, Vijayawada (East) MLA Gadde Ram Mohan Rao and TDP MP Kesineni Srinivas (Nani) participated in different programmes held in their respective constituencies.