Every year the Archbishop of Delhi and other dignitaries join the celebration.
Christmas Eve a representation image . (SNS)
Christmas holds a special place for the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission, which celebrate the festival in their unique style. In fact, the celebration is organised at the main temple itself in almost all the branches of the Math and Mission. The Delhi centre has a long tradition in this regard. Every year the Archbishop of Delhi and other dignitaries join the celebration.
The festivities match that of any popular Church of the city, complete with Christmas carols, candle lighting, prayers and offering of cakes. The temple is decorated beautifully and the photos of baby Jesus and that of Lord Jesus are placed at an altar and worshipped. A monk performs a special Christmas Eve aarti with candles and offers cakes and biscuits to Christ.
Carols are sung followed by short addresses by a monk, the Archbishop of Delhi and a priest. The Ramakrishna Mission has a very special association with Christmas Eve. In the year 1886, about four months after Sri Ramakrishna’s exit from this world, Swami Vivekananda along with eight of his disciples gathered at a village called Antpur in the Hooghly district of West Bengal upon the invitation of Matangini Devi, the mother of one of his brother disciples.
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They didn’t know it was Christmas Eve. After sunset they lit a fire, which is called Dhuni by traditional Hindu monks and sat around it to meditate. After meditating a long time Swami Vivekananda opened his eyes and spoke about the extraordinary life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He exhorted his brother monks to take up the vows of renunciation and service, keeping fire as witness.
The next morning they realised that the previous evening was the sacred Christmas Eve. The Antpur village is well developed now and it also has a beautiful centre of the Ramakrishna Math. Slowly Christmas Eve has become one of the important celebrations of the Ramakrishna order. Today monks and devotees spread across 205 centres in 22 countries of the Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission celebrate this occasion with due solemnity.
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