CHENNAI : Back in time, Mary and Joseph, a recently married couple from Nazareth, travelled to Galilee to register for a Roman census. Mary, who was nine months pregnant then, gave birth to baby Jesus during the arduous journey. Facing all the difficulties together, they continued to build a life of their own. In later years, Thomas the Apostle, the disciple of Jesus Christ, took a long journey from Galilee to Kerala as a part of his evangelical activities. He lived there and preached Christianity, inspiring some people to take up the religion. Later, the Christians who traced their origin to Thomas the Apostle came to be known as Syrian Christians because of their early association with the East Syrian Church of Christianity, and its traditional use of the Syriac language in church services.
Cut to the 21st century, Chennai is home to thousands of Syrian Christians, who migrated from different parts of Kerala. Despite all the movement from their roots, they have tried to preserve the imprint of traditions and celebrations that reflects their lineage. Interacting with the community members ahead of the Christmas celebrations, we trace back the traditions they have followed over time, the differences in celebrating the festival in Chennai compared to Kerala, and the special delicacies they prepare.
Spiritual preparation
From preparing wine and cake as a prelude to the festival to reveling in the Christmas feast, the celebrations in the city are more of an ecumenical union that tries to propagate the message of joy and peace to diverse communities. Fr Joy Arackal, vicar of Christ the King Syro Malabar Church, Poonamallee, who has been living in the city for more than a decade, explains, “In Chennai, the Christmas celebrations are like a feast among different families, unlike Kerala, where in the majority of the churches, the focus is on individual families and churches.” People living away from their native land connect through their ancestry and develop a bond to celebrate their culture here in the city. The community members often prepare themselves spiritually through 25 days of Lent where they practice fasting and abstinence. Fr Joy adds, “Throughout the Lent period, we prepare our body and mind to welcome a new hope. We also pray and collect money and clothes for the needy to celebrate Christmas with the message of sharing joy with everyone.”
Starting with house decor
When most of the city dwellers restrict their Christmas celebrations to lighting up a small tree and cutting cake, the community members explain that it takes days to finish their decorations. Johnson PJ, a businessman from Thrissur who has been living in the city for 33 years, recollects, “We used to begin our Christmas celebrations by making a crib. Unlike the modern days, we used to make cribs from haystacks and palm leaves. To prepare the ground for placing the statues, we planted mustard and rice. Since there was no electricity during my childhood days, we used to make bamboo stars and light up the flame and sometimes stay up all night to ensure that the flame stays.” Stars and cribs often continue to adorn their homes even after New Year celebrations. Johnson also adds that they used to decorate their entire garden with lamps rather than decorating a single tree.
Stella VK, an academic supervisor originally from Thrissur, shares, “We used to buy pine trees and decorate them with the greeting cards we had received during the holidays. We still follow this tradition and buy trees from Purasaiwakkam and T Nagar.”
Night of celebrations
For the midnight mass at their respective churches, Syrian Christians come together and join the services. Shiny Roni, a teacher from Karayanchavadi, originally from Perinthalmanna elaborates that attending the church services at 12 am is a whole other feeling. “Our services last for almost four hours but everyone will be happy to come together for that one day of celebration.” Since the city restrictions don’t allow the 12 am mass, Shiny adds that the churches in Chennai often wrap up their activities before 10 pm. Carol services will be another activity to look forward to.
The church members — from elders to kids — form a team and visit houses in the neighbourhood, singing both Malayalam and English songs. Shiny Johnson, an entrepreneur from Poonamallee, chips in about Buon Natale, a cultural festival conducted in her native, Thrissur, which occurs in association with the Christmas celebrations. “Thousands of people dress up as Santa Claus and angels and walk in procession around the city upholding the spirit of the season. Every house will be decorated with lights and stars, welcoming them.”
The Lent period where one abstains from consuming eggs, meat, and sometimes even milk, is broken after the mass either at the church or at home. From a breakfast of kallappam (Toddy pancake), mutton stew, duck roast, and beef curry, they navigate towards a lunch of chicken biryani or kappa biryani (tapioca and beef mix). Manju Robin, from Kannur who usually celebrates her Christmas in Kerala, says, “Kallappam is a must for any Christian celebrations.
The appam is made from fermented rice and coconut batter. Toddy is used as the fermenting agent.” Evening snacks include a list of traditional sweets — vattayappam, achappam, kuzhalappam, unniyappam. Fr Joy says, “For making these sweets, members of the family come together and start the preparations earlier. It was a long process. Each house will make one or two dishes and they will contribute from their kitchen to other houses and also collect from them.” Dinner will include the feast of all meats without any exceptions. Wine, usually homemade from grapes, plantain or rose apple and plum cake, is also an inevitable part of the Syrian Christians’ Christmas spread.
The community members cannot fully adapt to the Christmas celebrations in the city because it has, in their opinion, diluted over time and place. Yet, they continue to re-create a similar vibe in the city. Involving people from all ethnicities, religions and communities, most churches and other organisations in the city conduct charity drives, tree lighting ceremonies, cake-mixing events, cloth donation programmes, secret Santa games. “Even though we often go back to our native place for celebrations, we like celebrating Christmas here.
Coming from different parts of Kerala and being together in a different city, we have found love and genuine concern in the church members. We stay back after the midnight mass and interact with each other since we are like family,” Shiny shares. To strengthen this bond between the church members, the priests and other officials from the church organise competitions with the Christmas theme. Fr Joy details, “The competitions are usually group activities where the members are divided into small teams and they have to work together. The competitions include creating Christmas cribs, singing carols, and making stars. This year we have specially assigned different places like Iran and Papua New Guinea, to different units for the members to know about the people of the country and to pray for them.”
Even though Christmas is one of the most celebrated days of the year, the Syrian Christians from Thrissur share that it is only a start to the upcoming Ambu Perunnal in January, for which precessions will be accompanied by chenda melam and fireworks. Wrapping up Christmas is as hard as the beginning of the preparations which is why most of them continue to keep their house decorations intact till January. “Today’s celebrations are often limited to forwarded WhatsApp messages and stories on Facebook. Whether it’s in Chennai or Kerala, the intent of the celebration is the union of people and that should continue no matter what,” concludes Fr Joy.