Bengaluru gets decked up for Christmas

BENGALURU: The imposement of the night curfew, between 10.00 pm and 6.00 am till January 2 amid fear of the new strain of coronavirus, has come as a dampener to many. Ahead of Christmas, many were planning to head to churches, however, places of worship themselves are changing plans. 

St. Mark’s Cathedral, which had planned to conduct midnight mass on December 24 at 11.30 pm, is now planning to hold it between 7.00 pm and 8.00 pm on the same day.

On the other hand, All Saints Church has cancelled the mass this year. “We will have the service at 6:30 am and 8:30am on December 25,” says Ronald Fernandez, one of the standing members of the church. 

Staying on the side of caution, Wesley English Church called off their night service programme two weeks ago.

“We took this step in light of how the Covid scenario has been playing out and based on the directive of our bishop,” says the church’s secretary Bindu Paul. On Christmas morning, the church will have a service at 9am, wherein the premises can accommodate 120 people with social distancing.

The service will also be telecast online. Infant Jesus Church in Viveknagar which had planned Christmas eve service at 6.00 pm on December 24 and Christmas service at 7.00 am on December 25 will go ahead with their plans. St Andrew’s Church too has kept the eve service at 6.00 pm.