Hyderabad: Joy to the world! The Lord has come/ Let earth receive her King/ Let every heart prepare Him room/ And heaven and nature sing/ And heaven and nature sing/ And heaven, and heaven and nature sing.
Christmas is just around the corner. You can feel it in the air. Just like every year, people in the city have put up Christmas trees, decorated their homes, shopped for clothes and presents, and are eagerly waiting to celebrate the day with loved ones. But there’s one thing that people feared of missing out this year – Christmas carols.
Singing Christmas songs with friends and family and spreading the joy in the neighbourhood is, in fact, one of the favourite part of the festivities for most Christians.
“This year, because of Covid-19 we are taking as much care as possible,” said George Clive Lloyd, from St Joseph’s Church, Bolarum. “We have asked the families if they are comfortable with us coming to their houses and singing. We didn’t get much response, but some families are very keen on having carols to keep the Christmas cheer alive,” he added.
He said they were wearing masks while singing, not crowding with 20 to 30 people at once and are just going with eight people. To make it more special this year, they are giving a sapling as a gift to each house who has invited them. “I took this initiative as 2020 has been so difficult for all of us and I just wanted to make people happy,” said Clive, adding that Joy to the World, Silent Night and a couple of Telugu and Hindi carols were sung by the choir.
To combat Covid, St Joseph’s Church is even organising the main mass in a big ground, in open air and people can even attend it sitting in their cars. On the other hand, Bethel Church in Moula Ali has skipped door-to-door Christmas carolling.
“This year, we are instead organising it on a single day. This coming Sunday, the youth will be singing carols at the church itself. Apart from the usual carols, this time we have been practising for a special Telugu Christmas mashup. Kids and elderly people are skipping the event as it’s more risky for them. So we are really missing kids and their mischief,” said Joshua Emmanuel Francis.
Janet Correa from Our Lady Of Health in Khairatabad said that the church did not get the permission to go house-to-house for carols. “So, we have planned special masses for every area and we will have carols at the church then. The youth under Rev Fr Richard’s guidance organised a crib and carol competition last Sunday to make it more interesting in the pandemic. The crib was to be made creatively with vegetables, fruits, cakes and biscuits,” said Janet.
The Millennium Methodist Church in Secunderabad is also going low-key owing to the pandemic. While house-to-house carols have been cancelled, they are observing a Carol Sunday in which only a few people, mostly the youth, are expected to participate.
“On December 20, we are going to have a service but most of the time will be dedicated to carols and the worship team. There’s a band that’s going to perform and we even have solo singers. We have been practising mostly online, and are meeting only on Sundays. We are missing elders singing this year. Our church is being sanitised every day, but people are still scared,” said Rachel Shruthi Samson, adding that she misses hugging people this year and doesn’t really enjoy singing behind the mask.
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