Thousands of people assembled at Jashpur's Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary, ranked as the second largest church in Asia in terms of seating capacity, and other places across Chhattisgarh to celebrate the Christmas festival.

The church located in Jashpur's Kunkuri town has the capacity to accommodate nearly 10,000 people.

In capital Raipur and other major cities of the state, churches were decked up with lights and Christmas trees where a large number of people in formal attire gathered late Saturday night to attend the midnight masses and prayers on Sunday morning.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel attended the celebration at St Paul's Cathedral in Byron Bazar area of Raipur on Sunday morning and prayed for the prosperity of the state's people.

The celebrations could not be held with full fervour in the last two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but this time people were seen exchanging greetings outside churches in Christian-dominated areas of the state.

Thousands of people from the Christian community congregated at the Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral in Kunkuri town of Jashpur on Saturday night and offered prayers till the wee hours of Sunday, the church Bishop Emmanuel Kerketta told reporters.

The church is located in the tribal Christians-dominated Jashpur district in the northern part of Chhattisgarh.

At the Shanti Bhavan church in Jashpur town, around 2,000 Christian families from 16 villages in the vicinity gathered to mark the celebration.

For the last two years, people exchanged greetings online, but this time, everyone got the opportunity to celebrate the festival with traditional gaiety, said J Majju, an assistant professor at the St Thomas College Bhilai (Durg district).

CM Baghel in a tweet said, “Greetings and best wishes to all people belonging to Christian community in the state on the occasion of 'Christmas'”.

“May the birthday of Lord Jesus Christ bring happiness and prosperity in everyone's life. He emphasized on social equality and showed the way for the welfare of humankind..,” the CM added.

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