Christmas celebrated with religious fervor across Kashmir

Srinagar : Christians across Jammu and Kashmir Saturday celebrated Christmas with religious zeal and gaiety. The members from the Christian community thronged the churches across Srinagar and other districts of J&K for congregational prayers.
The biggest gathering in the Valley was witnessed at the Holy Family Catholic Church at Maulana Azad Road here while special prayers were also held for the first time in the last three decades at St Luke’s Church in Srinagar, which was reopened for prayers after three decades.
Since the morning, the Christians from different parts present in Srinagar, assembled at the Church here to celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ and participated in the special prayers. The churches in Srinagar and elsewhere were decorated with colorful buntings and balloons and wore a festive look.
According to the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), among the believers were tourists from different parts of the country, who joined the locals on the day and prayed for brotherhood as well as an end COVID-19 pandemic.
Like previous years, the people from Muslim and Hindu communities were also seen thronging to the churches and greeting the Christian community on the festival eve.
Shruti, a visitor from Delhi, told media persons that Christmas in Kashmir is being celebrated similarly like Delhi where Muslims, Hindus and others gather together to celebrate the festival.
“I don’t feel any difference from Delhi in Kashmir. We have been misinformed through the media about Kashmir, but after visiting here, there is nothing like that and it is quite safe here,” she said, adding that on the day she prayed for the end to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Moreover, similar prayers were held at other churches including the Saint Josephs Church in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district and at the Church in Gulmarg.
Nonetheless, people missed White Christmas this year as well as only higher reaches of Kashmir received fresh snowfall day before yesterday while the dry weather conditions continued across plains and other places of Kashmir