क्रिसमस
Bada Din — midnight mass, cake and one of the biggest commercial seasons of the year.
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Your local time · Friday 25 December 2026
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25 December, a fixed date in the Gregorian calendar
Christmas, called Bada Din in much of India, is celebrated on 25 December and marks the birth of Jesus Christ. In India it is a public holiday nationwide, and it is the country's largest non-Hindu festival by participation — celebrated well beyond the Christian community as a general festive season.
The Christian community in India is about 2.3% of the population, concentrated in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Goa, the Northeast and Mumbai, with significant populations in every major city and in the tribal districts of Jharkhand, Odisha and central India. Christmas practices therefore vary considerably, blending European colonial traditions with local Indian forms.
Midnight mass on Christmas Eve is the central observance, followed by a family meal. In Kerala and Goa, the traditions are strongly influenced by Portuguese and Syrian Christian practice, with dishes such as appam and stew in Kerala and sorpotel and bebinca in Goa. In the Northeast, Christmas is the biggest festival of the year, with community feasts and carol-singing through December, and Nagaland and Mizoram effectively shut down for the period.
The commercial side is enormous. Christmas has become a general Indian festive season alongside Diwali, with cake shops, malls, restaurants and online retailers running campaigns through December. The plum cake is the Indian Christmas food par excellence, and it is sold in cities with very small Christian populations, which makes it a good illustration of how far the festival has travelled beyond its religious base.
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Merry Christmas! May this season bring you peace, joy and good company.
Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.
Merry Christmas! May the season fill your home with warmth and laughter.
Happy Christmas! Wishing you a blessed day and a joyful year ahead.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! May all your hopes come true.
In the order a household actually does them.
Advent (Dec 1 onwards)
Set up the tree and lights, and the nativity crib. In many Indian towns this is a community effort with street-level decorations.
Christmas Eve
Attend the midnight mass, usually in the local parish church. In Kerala, Goa and the Northeast, masses can be in Malayalam, Konkani or local languages as well as English, Tamil or Hindi.
Christmas Day
Exchange gifts in the morning and gather for the main family meal. In most Indian Christian households the meal is lunch rather than dinner, given the midnight mass.
Boxing Day and after
Visit relatives, neighbours and friends, exchange cake with non-Christian neighbours, and continue carol singing in the Northeast and Kerala through the week.
This is where most festival sites give one national answer to a question that has several.
The largest Christian population in India proportionally. Christmas is marked with star lanterns at every window, midnight mass in Malayalam, appam and stew breakfast, and the Kerala plum cake. The Coonan Cross and Syrian Christian liturgies are distinct from Latin-rite practice.
Portuguese-influenced Christmas with midnight mass, sorpotel, bebinca, and community carol-singing. The state's Christmas and New Year season is a major tourist period.
Christmas is the largest festival of the year in these states, with carol competitions from early December, church services, community feasts, and in Nagaland and Mizoram near-total shutdown of business for the period.
A significant Christian population, particularly in the Kanyakumari and Tuticorin districts, with midnight mass in Tamil and a Christmas meal that centers on rice preparations and cake.
Observed by the Christian community with midnight mass in Hindi or English, and cake and decoration widely adopted by non-Christian households as a general December season.
Large midnight masses in Bandra and the East Indian parishes, with the Ranwar and Khotachiwadi Christmas traditions and a very visible street-level celebration.
Gift categories, honestly described — not a list of sponsored products.
The Indian Christmas exchange gift par excellence — cake and wine go to neighbours of every faith, and returning the plate with something else is part of the ritual.
Suits: neighbours, relatives, colleagues, family
The specific Indian Christmas decoration, and a nice one lasts for years and comes out every December.
Suits: family, parents, new home
Christmas is the main gift-giving day for Indian Christian children, alongside their birthdays.
Suits: child, niece, nephew, godchild
Dried fruit, spice, wine or rum and dessert ingredients in one box — practical for a household doing the Christmas cooking.
Suits: family, host, parents
Donating to the church, a choir or a charity running a Christmas meal is a genuinely on-theme gift that is widely practised.
Suits: community, church, charity
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With honest budget ranges and a difficulty rating for each.
A paper or fabric star lantern lit from inside and hung at the window or from the balcony — the specific Kerala and South Indian Christmas marker, and far more distinctive than a generic tree.
Budget: ₹300–₹1,200
Build the crib from coconut husk, hay, moss and small clay figures rather than plastic sets. In Kerala and Goa, church cribs are often elaborate community projects with coir and coconut shell work.
Budget: ₹500–₹3,000
Even a small tree with warm-white lights and handmade decorations reads well. Avoid the multicoloured flashing strings — warm white suits an Indian home interior better and looks better in photographs.
Budget: ₹1,000–₹5,000
If you are organising a carol group, a portable battery lantern and a song sheet per person matter more than decor. Plan the route to end at a house where snacks are served — that is the actual Indian carolling structure.
Budget: ₹200–₹600
Including a note on why each dish belongs to this festival.
The Indian Christmas cake — a dark, spiced fruit cake that is made weeks in advance and soaked in rum, and which is sold in every city regardless of Christian population.
About 90 minutes
Ingredients
The Kerala Christmas breakfast — lacy rice appam with a mild coconut-milk chicken or vegetable stew, eaten after the midnight mass.
About 60 minutes
Ingredients
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Christmas is on 25 December every year. In 2026 it falls on a Friday. Midnight mass is on the night of 24 December.
Bada Din means 'big day' in Hindi, and it is the common Indian name for Christmas. It distinguishes the festival from Chhota Din, which is used for New Year's Day in some regions.
Midnight mass on Christmas Eve, followed by a family meal, is the central observance. Decorating the house and tree from early December, carol singing, exchanging gifts, and visiting relatives through the following week are common. Practices vary widely between Kerala, Goa, the Northeast and the cities.
Yes, it is a gazetted public holiday nationwide.
The plum cake came with British colonial baking traditions and was adopted by Indian bakeries, particularly in Kerala and Goa. It is now sold across the country in December, including in cities with very small Christian populations, and is soaked in rum or brandy for weeks before Christmas.
Last reviewed 6 October 2026. This page covers a regionally specific festival — where practices differ, they are described separately rather than averaged. If you spot an error, tell us and we will correct it.