Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we are already looking forward to our celebration. You may ask yourself why we actually celebrate Christmas as I am definitely not Christian, nor is my family. You could think that we have nothing to do with the birth of Christ and I even say that I am not a Hindu and have nothing to do with any religion at all. So why do we celebrate the most important day of the year for Christians?
I may not be Christian and I may not be Hindu but I love the basic message that is behind the reason for such celebrations: come together and celebrate love. Enjoy being with those whom you love. Appreciate life, appreciate the world and what you have got. Give joy and love to another person as well. These all are things that I believe can be done at any time of the year but a celebration is another reason to remind yourself of all this. And I often say: we never skip a reason for a celebration! I am sure we will have a wonderful day full of love.
During the day some of my old school friends will arrive here with their families. For two years it has now been their routine to come on the 24th December to the Ashram to meet here. As some of them live quite a bit away from Vrindavan, we have not seen each other for a year and are looking forward to exchange news and of course talk about old times.
We will decorate the Ashram a little bit and of course we will have a Christmas tree! It may not be the typical tree that is used in other countries but we have always managed to place plants in pots in a way that they looked like a Christmas tree! With the right lighting and some soft Christmas music, we will get into a festive mood.
And then there are of course the Christmas presents. The children will be excited to see what everyone gets and of course to unwrap their own gift as well. It is so beautiful to see their shining eyes, their joy and their happiness.
We will have wonderful food prepared by my mother and the kitchen staff and altogether we will probably sit around the fire later – enjoying the warmth of the flames in front of us and of an Ayurvedic tea inside us.
We wish all of you, wherever you may be on this world, a wonderful festive time. Even if you don’t celebrate Christmas, think of it as a special day to celebrate love.
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Celebrations – a Mirror of Eastern and Western Culture – 23 Oct 14
Happy Holi 2014! – 17 Mar 14
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Diwali Celebration at the Ashram – 14 Nov 12
At the school where I work in London we try to celebrate many different traditions with the children. Most of us there follow the Christian faith so Christmas is an especially important time of year for us but we have had fun celebrating Divali and Chinese New Year too. If anything it is a nice opportunity to spend time with family and friends to eat and discover new tastes.