The Spirit of Christmas in Bangladesh

The Spirit of Christmas

Faizul Khan Tanim on the festivities and celebration commemorating the birth of Jesus

Christmas, called Boro Din in Bangla, is just around the corner and the Christian community in the country have started to gather in large numbers to participate in services singing:
'God rest ye merry gentlemen, may nothing you dismay, for Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas Day, to save us all from Satan's power, when we are gone astray, - Good tiding of Comfort and Joy'.

Carols, the colour red, Santa Claus, Christmas tree, holidays, music, movies, gifts wrapped in cellophane and designer papers, The Nutcracker, good food, all-round happiness and more come together to form the priceless traditions of Christmas each year and it will be no different this time.

The celebrations and ceremonies are about to begin in both urban and rural areas. Speaking to the Weekend Independent, one of the respected members of the Christian community, Senior Pastor Asa Kain of the Dhaka Assembly of God Church (AG Church) at New Eskaton Road, said, “The rural Christians would celebrate by going from village to village in a group singing Kirtans while the urbanites look forward to the pre-Christmas activities, Christmas day services in the churches which often starts with Pitha Utshob (cake festival) and would continue through the Love Feast and the fellowship to mingle with each other”.

AG, Church, a Protestant Church was established during the mid 50's and was set up by the American Missionary Society. It is one of the churches which organises very exciting year long activities. The church describes itself as Christ-centred, Evangelical, Bible-based, Pentecostal, and a Cell-based worshipping church meeting the needs of the entire family.

They have strong mission emphasis, with many ministries to meet all needs and also has Care Groups in every major location in Dhaka to provide fellowship and spiritual nurture.

The church has services and ministries in both English and Bengali and the Dhaka AG and the outreach church Dhaka International aAssembly (DIA) has over 25 to 30 different nationalities attending their services on any given week.

Kain said amongst the many activities of this church, they are involved with supporting the slum children with six free schools where books, uniforms, food and most importantly education are all free of cost. They have orphanages, a ministry of prison and drug rehabilitation, a transformation media ministry and an internet radio which broadcasts value based programs targeting the youth to stay away from going astray.

Every year, they have a service in the prison during Christmas so that the Christian inmates can find inner peace and try to heal.

Pastor Kain concluded by saying, “The spirit of Christmas comes in prayers, colours, happiness and bonding. The spirit is love expressed in action. God loved and gave us Jesus, Jesus loved us and gave life. So if the true spirit of Christmas is experienced, they are able to Love and Give”.