Stepping back into the vault, families from Salem and Trichy pull out a few nostalgic morsels of their family Christmas traditions.
Christmas is a time when the world sparkles with lights, benevolence, and the hope of togetherness. (iStock)
The taste of Christmas in Salem in the late 1970s was compounded by cultural camaraderie, generous exchange of handmade treats, and immersive family get-togethers.
Dr Nithya Franklyn‘s home in this town of southern Tamil Nadu had all of this multisensory fragrance along with the boisterous laughter of extended relatives.
“Christmas was always about 4.30 am church service, traditional meals, and relatives visiting us from other cities of Tamil Nadu,” recalls Franklyn, who grew up in a colony which had only 2-3 Christian families.
Those were the times of community living and uninhibited sharing, she says. Preparations would begin a week before Christmas, after semester exams. Franklyn and her brother would mix the batter for the cake.
Dr Nithya Franklyn and her family visit her mother in Salem every Christmas. (Supplied)
“As Tamil Christians, we don’t drink wine. Baking is a big affair for us. We always make fruit cake loaded with nuts, fruits and tutti-fruity. There’s no plum cake on our Christmas table,” shares Franklyn, who is a paediatrician and sleep specialist.
Reminding us of an era sans ovens and microwaves, Franklyn recollects handing over the batter to a local baker. A few days later, a gloriously baked fruit cake would be waiting on their table to be unveiled.
Artificial Christmas trees were not a fad during her growing-up days. As a ritual, Franklyn’s father would take her around the town on his bike to select their Christmas tree.
“We would always choose the bushiest one,” she says. Their next favourite task was to deck up the tree with handmade greeting cards, serial lights and cotton to give it a snowy look.
Besides this, one tradition that remains close to her heart is making cards for her friends and sending them out in the first week of December. Store-bought cards were strictly for family and relatives, she adds. Franklyn recalls being fascinated by the musical cards that her cousins sent from abroad.
Attending church service on Christmas Eve and the day of Christmas was non-negotiable. Every Christmas Eve, special trays would be brought out and homemade Christmas sweets would be meticulously placed and covered with a towel. The platter would be shared with friends and neighbours on the following day.
Attending church service on Christmas Eve and the day of Christmas was non-negotiable. (Supplied)
“My mother always made sweets that had jaggery or palm jaggery. So our standard sweet staples would include athirasam, rose cookies, and munthiri kottu (made of green gram and palm jaggery).”
Before attending the night church service, all the new clothes would be placed on the tepoy in their living room.
“It was thrilling for us to get new clothes for Christmas unlike today when we go shopping as an everyday affair. Also, firecrackers wouldn’t be available during this season. So we had to buy it during Deepavali and store them for Christmas,” shares Franklyn, who was the finalist of MasterChef Tamil 2021.
The first meal on the morning of 25 December would be Vivika, which is similar to the Goan Sanas, or the Kerala Vittayappam, along with mutton curry, she says.
Lunch was always her mother’s preparation of ghee rice teamed with a chicken curry and other homemade treats. The Christmas table in their home was not measured merely by food but by shared love and merriment of the season.
The family had another Christmas tradition.
The day after Christmas was the day of picnic. Franklyn’s mother would pack tamarind rice and curd rice, and a local dhaba would prepare the family’s favourite mutton curry, and off they’d go to Hoegenakkal or Yercaud.
The Christmas of 1987 is one that Franklyn will never forget. (Supplied)
The Christmas of 1987 is one that Franklyn will never forget.
Preps were on and her home was brimming with the aroma of the holiday spirit.
Just as she was adding the last piece of accessory to the Christmas tree, they received the news of the former late CM of Tamil Nadu MGR’s passing on 24 December.
“All the shops shut down immediately. Everyone locked themselves inside their homes. Lights were brought down. It was a heartbreaking Christmas. No meat shop was open. That was one Christmas when we had rasam and dal,” recalls Franklyn. Two days later, to cheer her up, her father took Franklyn to her grandparents’ place.
Now a Chennai resident, Franklyn continues her mother’s traditions of Christmas meals, but with an upgraded version, she mentions. “I still make the Vivika and mutton curry. But the cake has become better. We now use alcohol in the cake and I bake my cake now,” she informs.
Then came the era of turkey, she says. Booking a turkey and getting it home for a good roast, became another addition to the tradition.
In more recent years, Franklyn has been witness to Christmas tables that speak of the times we live in where food is just a click away. She yearns for her childhood days when Christmas spelt uncles, aunts, and cousins gathered around the table that had piles of food, piety and good cheer.
But what keeps the spirit alive in her are the moments of undistilled nostalgia across these years.
Setting up the Christmas crib, playing cricket with 30 family members, and grand preparation of Christmas meals, December is filled with all these ingredients at Fran Raphael‘s ancestral home in Trichy.
Fran Raphael’s family comes up with a new theme for the crib every year. (Supplied)
Family is what defines Christmas for Raphael. After his initial years in Madurai, Raphael moved to Trichy to his grandparents’ home where the joy of a joint family lingers all year round. But during Christmas, it comes with an extra tinsel of warmth and lights.
“Coming from a Roman Catholic family, I grew up in the 90s watching all my uncles set up the crib. Every year, we have a new theme which is decided jointly by all the members. Typically, the height of our crib is 15ft and the length is 25ft. The crib work begins from the first week of December,” shares Raphael who works in the hospitality industry.
Raphael recalls the Christmas when the theme was snow. “All the cousins assembled and it was a group activity using thermocol and cotton to create the snow effect,” he says.
This year, Raphael’s crib spells a simple decoration. (Supplied)
In the 2000s, the baton of decking the halls in their home was completely handed over to the younger members of the family
This year, Raphael’s crib spells a simple decoration. Fifty family members will be part of the celebrations where the theme is gold, red and green.
“Everyone has to dress up in these colours,” he adds.
A week before Christmas, his home is scented with the aroma of laddoos, jangri, thattai, murukku, nei urundai, rava urundai, and badushah. Gulab jamuns are made from scratch. But the staple is Vennai Puttu, a sweet made using rice flour and coconut milk with a jelly-like texture.
“Apart from this, we bake a plum cake. The batter is soaked in rum and orange peels are dried out, 20 days in advance,” he shares.
“But what is close to my heart is the tradition of sitting with all the cousins and binding the laddoos,” he says.
Traditions are treated with an equal dose of reverence and jest. After the midnight mass on Christmas Eve, the family raises a toast of wine in shot glasses, plays music and dances till 5 am.
The Christmas lunch table is always set in the American style. (Supplied)
Breakfast is a magnificent, fun affair. “It’s a long, relaxed one. Breakfast is so lazy that by the time we finish, it’s lunch hour,” he laughs.
The Christmas lunch table, he says, is always set in the American style. The food, however, is typically Indian. But with changing times and palates, Continental food has made its way into their Christmas lunch.
“During my childhood, the table would have all types of meat. Sometimes turkey biryani and turkey fry. The entire family pitches in to cook this meal,” he shares. The meal reaches a crescendo with a platter of desserts including bread butter pudding, carrot halwa, badam halwa, etc.
Fiesta is followed by siesta. “After lunch, my grandfather ensures all the 11 grandchildren sleep in his room,” Raphael laughs.
Christmas always ends the same way — a friendly cricket match in the evening with his second and third cousins.
For Raphael, the holiday season and Christmas traditions symbolise life’s blessings. (Supplied)
For Raphael, the holiday season and Christmas traditions symbolise life’s blessings.
After COVID-19 tilted the world on its axis in 2020, this is the first relaxed Christmas for his family. “This time, I will meet my 90-year-old grandaunts and uncles, I am waiting to listen to their childhood experiences and learn from them. It is one of the best times of the year,” he says.
Christmas is a time when the world sparkles with lights, benevolence, and the hope of togetherness. In the case of Dr Nithya Franklyn and Fran Raphael, it’s reconnecting with family traditions and deepening their relationship with their loved ones that sparkles their world.
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