Joy and love: night vigil
One of the most outstanding Christmas traditions among communities in Kenya is having vigils popularly know as “Kesha” on the Christmas Eve. Most worshippers come together to celebrate birth of Jesus Christ by singing hymns and carols and even at times recreate the holy event by nativity plays. At midnight, churches ring bells to mark the birth of Christ while people sing praise songs to honour the start of Christmas day.
On Christmas day, people serve nyama choma (grilled meat), kuku (chicken) and the famous chapati (flatbread). Wherever you go or whatever you eat, everyone is welcome.
This tradition always reminds me of the joy and the love we have for each other as a community. Getting together to share meals and storytelling is usually the best part, but the most amazing and wonderful time is during the night vigil when one connects with Jesus though praise and worship, giving a sense of belonging and restoring one’s hope of starting anew with the birth of Christ.
Valary Otieno, Songhor Mennonite Church, Kenya
A month of celebrating Charni Daan
In India, Christmas is celebrated with great enthusiasm from mid November to New Year. Christmas is more special because we get a chance to meet our family and friends.
People of all age groups go to houses singing carols and dancing: “The prince of peace, our Saviour, Lord Jesus, is born; let’s rejoice in him.”
Cookies, doughnuts, cakes and Indian traditional anarsa (biscuits), gujiya (pastries) and Saloni are made in every house. Carol singers taste the variety of foods which reflect respect toward each other and give a message to love as written in John 15:12-13.
A crowd of 200-300 Christians walk the streets to convey the message that our Saviour Jesus Christ is born, as we were commanded by Jesus in Matthew 28:18-20. Children and youths perform a skit recreating the scene of first Christmas.
We also have sports and picnic day which unites everyone of all age groups to know each other better, love each other and live like a family. We share Christmas presents with children from poor backgrounds.
Christmas day is called Charni Daan in India. Charni means manger and Daan means gift. From this we convey that God gifted us Jesus in manger. The manger represents humbleness: if we want Jesus to born in our heart, we have to make our self very humble and sin-free (Romans 8:10, Mark 10:41-45).
After Christmas Day, we have Thanksgiving day, to thank God for his gift for us (John 3:16) and for his blessings in our life, health, business, farm. Whatever we received from God as blessings we present: food, fruit and vegetables, money, rice, etc.
Deepson Masih, Bethesda Mennonite Church Champa (BGCMC), India
Sharing love – with sprinkles
There are so many different traditions we have for Christmas in Germany, but my favorite of all is baking Christmas cookies.
We bake from the middle of November until Christmas: more than once because the cookies are eaten up pretty fast. The first Christmas cookies are kind of inheriting the Christmas time.
The baking itself is always really fun. We come together, listen to Christmas music and start the process. We have different kinds of flavours for the cookies, but even more important are the shapes. Especially for kids, this part is really fun, because they can choose their favourite shapes. After the cookies are baked it’s time to decorate with sprinkles.
I love this Christmas tradition because you can share this time with your friends and family. In the kitchen, it gets warm and comfortable in this cold time of the year and of course it smells and tastes really good.
This tradition reminds me of the message of hope, peace, joy and love at Christmas because you can enjoy a peaceful time together with your loved ones and you can even share this love by giving Christmas cookies to others.
Noa Fechner, Mennonitengemeinde Altona-Hamburg, Germany
All voices praising Jesus together
Christmas consists of many family gatherings to hear the Christmas story and get reminded of the message of hope and peace that Jesus came to the world to make known.
In most cases, we spend some time in the pool, drink maté (tea) together and have a simple potluck dinner. But the one thing you can’t miss at our Christmas parties is the moment after dinner when a ringing bell calls everyone into a special room (one of my cousins uses a cow bell). Once everyone is seated and the light dimmed, one of us reads the Bible story and shares something that was most meaningful to him/her about it. Then others chime in telling their own learnings, creating a very special atmosphere of thanksgiving and encouragement in our faith.
And then my favorite moment: someone goes to the piano and we sing beautiful Christmas songs all together. Some sing better, others less well, but hearing all our voices praising Jesus together moves me. Since I was a child, these moments have always been very precious to me.
To finish the night off, we have dessert and a few gifts are handed out.
I really love the simplicity of our Christmas parties where we meet to enjoy each other’s company and remember the one that keeps us united.
Valentina Kunze, Uruguay
A gospel light
Every year on 24 December, my family goes to the Christmas Eve service at Park View Mennonite Church (Harrisonburg, Virginia). It’s a traditional ‘lessons and carols’ service, where we read the Christmas Story from Luke and sing accompanying hymns as we work our way through the text.
The whole service is enjoyable, but the most meaningful piece is at the end. Small candles (hidden in the storage closet all year) are passed out and lit as we sing “Silent Night.”
Watching the flame – which first comes from the Christ candle at the front of the room – spread from hand to hand, row to row always moves me. This practice of celebrating the light of Jesus coming into the world is a beautiful reminder that though Jesus is the source of light for all, we cannot carry that light alone, nor do we receive it directly from God: we receive it from one another and we are tasked to share the light of good news with those around us.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it” (John 1:5).
This is the good news of Christmas to me.
—Caleb Schrock-Horst is a member of Park View Mennonite Church, Harrisonburg, Virginia, USA.
