SHILLONG: It's Boxing Day and besides opening boxes full of Christmas gifts it's time for grand feasts in the predominantly Christian-inhabited Meghalaya.
The Feast of St Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is observed on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. Alms boxes are placed in every church on Christmas Day, in which worshippers drop gifts for the poor of the parish; these boxes are opened on Boxing Day.
Churches of various denominations in the city are organizing community feasts, which would continue up to the New Year's Eve. "Christmas is a time for sharing your blessings and caring for people cutting across barriers of community and religion. It is a time to spread the message of love and peace among all and what better way to do so than to organize community feasts," says a church elder.
Popular as 'Bam Khana Krismas' in local parlance, these community feasts are occasions of merrymaking and rejoicing, with people from all walks of life and socio-economic classes sharing food prepared in a common kitchen.
Dotted with churches and chapels, the 'Scotland of East' is agog with festivity this time of the year with street corners and households illuminated with fairy lights.
Meanwhile, with state government offices remaining closed for Christmas and New Year, Pine City these days is also a city of leisure with people draped in warm woolens mostly having fun with family and friends indoors to beat the sharp winter chill.
While offices are scheduled to reopen in the first week of January, schools, colleges and other educational institutions would begin reopening from mid-February after a long winter vacation.
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