Christmas in Northeast India

A belated Merry Christmas to all!

Before I tell you about our Christmas celebration here in Northeast India, let me back up a few days and give you an update from where I left off in the last post.

On Monday of this week, we started off the morning by taking some of the kids to Fat James, a local restaurant (and one of the only ones) here in Churachandpur. They serve some western food like cheeseburgers and pizza. It is pretty expensive by local standards, so most of the kids never go there on their own, so it was a real treat for them to be able to go with us.

We have been quite busy ever since we got here with invitations to kids houses for meals. We ran out of days long before we ran out of invitations.

Now, I don't mean to bore you with all the details, but this blog is kind of my personal journal, too, so I am going to tell you whose house we went to on each day. It's mostly for my benefit... and if the names and places mean anything to you, great.

On Monday for lunch, we went to the next village over from Seilmat, called Hmarveng. It was Denish's (ICC 2008) birthday, so he invited us to celebrate it with him.

We came back to TCS, where we are staying, for an hour or so and then went to Elva's (ICC 2006) house for dinner. Her family lives here in Seilmat.

Tuesday, we went back up to Fat James for an early lunch, and then spent the morning and into the early afternoon here at TCS. We kept the morning open because there were some kids who had not seen us yet that wanted to come for a visit.

In the afternoon, we went to Esther's (ICC 2008) house for tea. She also had some sibling in previous choirs... Kevin in 2006 and Daisy in 2002. Then we stopped at Joseph's (ICC 2007) house for another round of tea. Joseph's sister, Abigail, will be a part of the 2009 ICC.

Dinner was served at Rohny's house. Rohny is the superintendent of education for all of Bibles For The World's schools. He spent three years in the states getting his master's degree from Denver Seminary, and as always, we had a great time with him and his family. He even cooked dog meat for us, a delicacy over in this part of the world. Believe it or not, it was really good.

On Wednesday, we left bright and early in the morning, and went about an hour from here to a little tiny village called Tingcham. Immanuel Lalsanhim from the 2007 choir lives there. The village is a very poor village, and one of the more needy in this area. We spent some time visiting there and then came back to the village of Molnom where we ate lunch at Priscilla's (ICC 2006) house. Priscilla is the one whose father died while she was here in the States, if any of you remember that. After the lunch, we went to the next village over, Khawmawii, to visit some of the former ICC members from there. We stopped at Canaan's (ICC 2004) and Mesak's (ICC 2008) houses.

We came back to TCS and spent an hour or so and then walked over to the village of Rengkai and at dinner at Margaret's (ICC 2006) house. After dinner, we attended the Christmas eve service at the Rengkai church.

Christmas is a big deal around here, and part of that big deal is a big community feast at the church. On Christmas morning, we were awakened nice and early (around 5:00 AM) by the sounds of banging pots and people's voices just behind the place we are staying. They were beginning to prepare the feast which would be served later in the afternoon. They had killed the cow the day before. They dug a long ditch and built a fire the whole way along it. Then they placed all the pots... probably at least 20 of them on top of the fire. There was pork and beef and fish... some spicy and some mild.

For breakfast that morning, we went to Jasper's (ICC 2007) house. The morning service was at 10:30. Right after that, we went to Elva's house for tea, and then back to TCS to rest for a little.

The feast started around 2:30. Along with the stuff they were preparing earlier, everyone brought enough rice for their family. The put all the rice in a big drum... think 50 gallon drum... and it was full to the top! The food was very good.

Right after the feast, we went to Esther's (ICC 2005) house for a visit. I sponsor both Esther and her older sister, Mary.

The evening service at the church started around 5:30, so we attended that, and then they have a special time of singing right after the service, so we attended that for a little while.

It was an interesting time... the first Christmas I have ever spent wearing short sleeves! But that is not the only interesting thing. It was very special to experience the Christmas celebration in a different culture. Even though we don't celebrate it the same way, we are celebrating the same event... an event that changed the world... forever!

Christmas celebrations last for two days around here... mostly the same on the second day as the first. Today, we ate breakfast at Paul and Joyful's house, and then attended the church service. After resting for a little, we walked to Rengkai and joined the feast there. It was pretty much the same deal as Seilmat, except for the fact that the kids and the adults eat separately because they are a larger congregation and do not have room for everyone together. We ate with the kids, and then went to Celia's (ICC 2006) house for a rest and guess what... more tea.

We attended the evening service and singing time at Rengkai and then came back to Seilmat where the singing was, and still is for that matter, going on (it's 11:30 PM).