December 24, 2025
I wasn't too thrilled about spending Christmas in a non-Christian country, but in the end I think it was a good experience. We enjoyed our Sunday service in an LDS Ward, and we had the opportunity to go to a Christmas Eve Mass in Varanasi in St. Mary's Cathedral, a Gothic Revival-style church that is the episcopal seat for Varanasi. Since Catholics make up only 0.1% of the population of the Agra Ecclesiastical Province that includes Varanasi, it is impressive that they have this building and could pull off this level of celebration.
St. Mary's was established in 1854 during the British colonial era and attained cathedral status in 1970. The current church was finished and dedicated in 1993.
The cathedral was less than a mile from our hotel, so we decided to walk there rather than worry about catching a cab, rickshaw, or Uber. Once we got in the general vicinity, the church was hard to miss because of the lit-up Christmas decorations.
The highlight of the outdoor decorations was a nativity scene that ran almost the entire length of the yard from the entry gate to the church building. The stable and Holy Family were in the center, with the shepherds arriving on the left end . . .
. . . and the wisemen arriving with their camels on the right end.
The cathedral's airy interior is very simply decorated.
My favorite thing in the room was this yellow rope of Hindu-temple-syle flowers hanging from Mary's neck in the copy of Michelangelo's
Pietá. I love that the church has incorporated familiar customs into their own worship patterns. It must make those converting and attending feel more at home.
Somehow we got there at least a half hour before the service began. I don't know if we got it wrong or if everything just runs late in India. The interior is very wide, with rows of benches on each side and a center aisle about the width of both sides of benches combined. Most of the congregants appeared to prefer sitting on the ground (another Hindu custom) to sitting on the pews.
A group of altar boys led the procession . . .
. . . followed by a group of priests and the bishop wearing his mitre hat.
See my recording of the clergy procession
here.
People kept dribbling in as the service progressed until both the pews and the floor were full.
The format was familiar, but the music, sung a capella or with recorded accompaniment as there was no organ, was not. The mass was delivered in Hindi (I think--not English) with maybe some Latin thrown in. We weren't getting much out of it, but there was one moment when one of the priests triumphantly raised a plastic baby doll into the air. Hello, Jesus! We recognized You!
We left at the beginning of communion and discovered that there were a lot of people still outside, or perhaps newcomers.
Now that we had been inside, we were more aware of the "Indian touches" outside, including these marigold garlands on the railing. By the way, other than lots of red Santa hats, Christmas in India is yellow and orange, not red and green.
A look back at the cathedral with its garish purple and aqua lighting. The style could almost be California Mission, but the lighting colors definitely are not.
We started the long walk back to our hotel, passing this monument to Buddha on our way. I am not sure, but I think the hand signal on the left relates to teaching and learning and the one on the right signifies protection.
There was another Christian church within walking distance of our hotel--St. Thomas Church, an Anglican/Episcopal church that is more than 200 years old. It was founded on the belief that St. Thomas, one of Jesus' twelve apostles, visited this area during his missionary travels.
We got back to the hotel very late and headed for bed after saying good night to Pitaji (Father) Christmas in the lobby.
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