THRISSUR: Parishioners of Kanakamala St Antony’s Church are busy. With Christmas just hours away, they are working in full gear to meet the strict deadline. The task: Making a Christmas crib on two acres of land around the church!
The church will unveil the crib, a testament of hard work, cooperation and team work, when Christmas celebrations reach its peak during the midnight ceremony.
“We have 15 units under the church and nearly 600 families. All of us, irrespective of gender and age, have been working in tandem to make the crib a reality,” said shared Joy Kuyiladan, central committee president of the church.
Kanakamala church is popular among people of all faiths for its annual pilgrimage to the top of the mountain akin to the Malayattoor pilgrimage. Not just Kerala, people from other states also trek the mountain and offer prayers at the top every year.
The church’s huge Christmas crib has it all – the Garden of Eden, real paddy fields, replicas of animals, miniature huts and the like.“We have planned it as a journey. At the entrance is an airplane model. Visitors will enter through the plane and get down at the Garden of Eden, which has trees, animals like crocodile and elephant. There are miniature huts, an angel statue, paddy fields, even pyramids,” said Vipin, who spearheaded the activities along with the committee members. The parishioners give credit for the work to their leader Fr Shibu Nellissery.
“We didn’t want to spend huge amounts of money on things. The parishioners made the artworks themselves,” said Joy.
While the aeroplane model at the entrance was made from unused building materials, the model of the bus installed at the exit was made using real spare parts collected from a local shop.
“A bus owner from the area let us use the front portion of an unused bus. Similarly, arecanut trees that we used to make various structures were sourced from the farmers of the parish. When we approached them, they offered us all help without hesitation,” Vipin said.
Even migrant labourers joined the parishioners, when they saw the latter working day and night, Vipin said. “Youngsters who are working would join us at nights. At times, we would work as late as 2am,” he said.