Christmas in Nepal

Merry Christmas from Nepal!

It still seems a bit unreal, that today was Christmas. It's a public holiday, but other than schools and offices being closed, it seemed pretty much life as usual. I was even able to get some gifts today, since the stores were open - now that's last minute shopping!

I am in Kathmandu, staying with a Canadian family from BC. It's very nice to be in a family home all decorated for the season, and to make me feel even more at home, they have the same manger scene that my parents have at home! I got in yesterday on the bus, and we went to the Christmas Eve service at the International Church - I finally got a good chance to sing English Christmas Carols, something I had been missing. Afterwards we enjoyed some BC smoked salmon with wine, cheese and crackers - what a nice taste of home.

This morning I went to a friend's house for a Christmas breakfast of pancakes and maple syrup - a bit I had stashed away from when I came a year ago. What a treat. And I've just had Christmas dinner with a whole group of ex-pats. Someone managed to get a turkey imported from the US (through some British Gurkha connections, naturally), which was something I wasn't expecting to get in Nepal, especially with the fixings of cranberry (imported from Canada by my hosts), gravy, and heaps of other delicious food. And since it's strawberry season here now, we even got fresh strawberry mousse, a real treat. We were suitably stuffed for the Christmas season. Tomorrow there is a big game of capture the flag being organized amongst a bunch of families (as I'm posting this on boxing day, I can report that about 70 people came to have a picnic with Christmas leftovers and then play capture the flag on really fun hilly terrain in a sparse pine wood, overlooking the Kathmandu Valley - fun). So I've had a good Christmas.

Last week when I was out in the rural areas of Nepal, there was no sign that Christmas was coming. Winter crops were being planted, and life was continuing on as it always does. Yet I felt like I was experiencing life more as it might have been in Jesus' times. Certainly someone travelling on a donkey makes sense, and of course if there was no room in the inn, you would put someone up in a barn.

I got back to Pokhara on Friday, and after there being nothing at all, all the pre-Christmas activities seemed packed into one weekend. Saturday after Church, I helped out at the Christmas program for a weekly children's camp. The camp happens in different places around the city, but for Christmas, everyone was gathered in one place for a program with singing, dancing and food. For over 700 children!

Everything was impressively organized. The children were lined up, and sat on the grass for the entertainment. It was fun, with skits, songs, dancing from the older youth (imagine catching teenage boys at home getting into this!) and younger kids (very cute).

And then there was the meal. Dhal Bhat for 700 children is a lot of food. It was cooked in huge vats over fires - rice, curried meat (they used a whole buffalo worth) and vegetables. The children sat in rows, and were fed in an impressively short time.


Sunday afternoon there was a Christmas party among the expatriates in Pokhara, then a party with Nepalis at Sita's house in the evening. I made them mulled wine, which they'd never had before, and very much liked. Carollers from Sita's church came by that evening, and sang outside in the yard that had been decorated with candles. Carolling here was much more energetic than what happens at home - with everyone clapping and dancing along with the Nepali carols.

On Monday, all of the patients were given long sleeved fleece shirts as Christmas presents from the Hospital Christian Fellowship (more pics here). Then on Tuesday we had the Hospital Christmas program. It's interesting, as we in the west move from even telling the Christmas story at this season, the Nepali Christians use the interest their Hindu friends neighbours have in this new holiday to tell the whole gospel story, not just what happened at Christmas. Along with the required singing and dancing which must be part of any true Nepali program. On the right is Marleen and I dressed in our Christmas outfits for the occasion!