Christmas decorations add colour to festivity

Islamabad : Christian community in capital like other parts of the country has started decorating evergreen coniferous tree to celebrate the biggest occasion ''Christmas'' in befitting manner, with only few days left in commencement of the festivity.

The popular malls and hotels in the federal capital have also placed the decorated Christmas tree to share happiness of the Christian community to lure the visitors.

Christmas tree is the main symbol of the Christmas celebrations to welcome arrival of Santa Claus and to add colour to the festival with its attractive decorative look.

The members of Christian community decorate the evergreen coniferous tree, real or artificial, as a tradition associated with the celebration of Christmas.

The tree is usually decked with different ornaments including baubles, small bells painted gold or silver, stars of different shapes and sizes, pine cones, apples, candies, tinsel and balloons made from glass, metal, wood and ceramic.

An angel and star is often placed at the top of the tree representing the host of angels.

“The biggest excitement of the festival is to decorate Christmas tree with beautiful ornaments.

I have decorated my tree and I am excited to share its pictures with my friends on social media as they will not visit us due to the threat of COVID-19”, Asiya Joseph, a young girl said.

Talking to APP, she said, “Decorating Christmas tree is the main hallmark of this festival", adding, “our festival remained incomplete without this tree”.

The festival of Christmas also brings good business to the sweet sellers, gift shops as well as shopkeepers of ornaments.

Samuel Gill, a young boy said, “We are celebrating this Christmas without arranging big parties and gatherings but cannot compromise in case of Christmas tree”.

“We have decorated an artificial Christmas tree at our home to enjoy the upcoming festival”, he said.

Hamid Nawaz, a decorative items seller at Karachi Company said people mostly used colourful candles and electric lights (fairy lights) to decorate their small sized trees as these were easily available here while many people also used to decorate outdoor trees with lights and some other ornaments.

He said, although the pandemic has affected the overall business but still good number of customers were buying these items.

In various cultures, the Christmas tree is traditionally brought into the home and decorated with Christmas lights (originally candles), ornaments, garlands, tinsel, and candy canes during the days around Christmas.

The earliest accounts of decorating an evergreen tree at Christmas were recorded in Livonia (roughly modern territory of Estonia and Latvia) in 15th century.

The Christian community is finalizing its preparations for celebrating the Christmas festival with more enthusiasm and renewed spirit, feeling the echo of church bells that announce the birth of Jesus.

The festival will be marked through different activities ranging from official gatherings to cake cutting ceremonies in small communities.

The joyous occasion will fill the atmosphere with colours, symbols and traditions of Christmas that mainly includes Christmas Tree, Santa Clause, Carols and Christmas gifts.