Mangaluru: Religious fervour and gaiety marked the Christmas celebrations in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, as thousands of people thronged the churches to attend prayers on Wednesday.

The churches were decorated with lamps and sky lanterns. The Christmas cribs were a major attraction.

Carols were sung before the mass at the churches. Santa Claus added colour to the celebrations. Many youth organisations held special cultural programmes in the churches.

Most of the churches had Christmas masses on Tuesday evening. Although most of the churches in the coastal districts had started the preparations to make the cribs about a month ago, the final touches were given on the eve of Christmas.

Cribs arranged

In Mangaluru city, cribs at all the churches – including Cathedral (Rosario), Lady of Miracles (Milagres), Holy Cross Church (Kulshekar), St Sebastian’s Church (Bendoor), St Joseph’s Seminary (Jeppu), St Rita’s church (Cascia), Guardian Angel church (Angelore), St Lawrence (Bondel), Infant Jesus shrine (Bikarnakatta), Mother Theresa (Paldane) and Our Lady of Immaculate Conception (Urwa) – seemed the best.

Some of the shops too had placed cribs, highlighting the spirit of Christmas.

Be it decorating the roofs of houses or apartments with Christmas stars, or making crib or making ‘kuswar’ (traditional sweets made during Christmas season which include Nevryo, Kideo, Gulio, rice laddu, Tukdi and cakes), several Catholic families were busy in one or the other way for the last few weeks. As a part of tradition, many Christians exchanged the Kuswar with their brethren and also distributed among the non-Christian neighbours.

In many churches, competitions for the best Christmas crib were conducted for parish members. Many shopping outlets, bakeries and hotels were seen decorated with lights and Christmas tree to welcome the visitors.