INDIA,
As lots of Christian in Bombay (one of the largest Christian communities in India) is Roman Catholics, thus midnight mass is a very important service for those who celebrate. The whole family will walk to the mass dressed up in their best and this will be followed by a massive feast of different delicacies, and of course giving and receiving of gifts.
Instead of having traditional Christmas trees, a banana or mango tree is decorated as a replacement. Sometimes people even use mango leaves to decorate their homes! Families would go to great lengths to hang giant paper lanterns in the shape of stars between the houses and display a manger in a front window; there’s always great competition in making the nativity scene! Every household also makes sure that they have a stock of homemade sweetmeats ready for visitors. And the Father Christmas of India would deliver presents to children from a horse and a cart!
ZIMBABWE; AFRICA,
If you ask any Zimbabwean, the best part about Christmas would be the way they go home after attending Church service. Apparently, after the service, everyone would hold a party in their homes and people would go from house to house, paying visits on the way home! Most often, this can take all of the rest of the day! They’ll be lots of food to savour, partying, and gifts exchanging.
In Zimbabwe, only main room (usually living room) is decorated; most Zimbabwean homes do not have a traditional “European Christmas Tree”, but they’ll decorate the room with plants like Ivy, used to drape around the whole of the top of the room!
The special food eaten at Christmas in Zimbabwe is chicken with rice. Chicken is very expensive food in Zimbabwe and is special treat for Christmas. This is often eaten at the Christmas Day parties.