Midnight mass is the first liturgy ( the form of prayer) of Christmastide ( period immediately preceding and following 25th December, the Christmas Day) that’s celebrated on the night of Christmas Eve, traditionally beginning just before the midnight of 24th giving way to Christmas Day. This midnight mass is a jubilant celebration in the honour of the Nativity of Jesus ( as the birth of Jesus is described in the Biblical gospels of Luke and Mathew) and it includes the celebration of Holy Communion ( also known as Eucharist, it’s a Christian rite and as per the New Testament, it was instituted by Jesus during the last supper , giving his disciples bread and wine during a Passover meal. As per Jesus, bread represented his body and the wine new covenant in his blood.)
As I read it somewhere, midnight mass is a tradition of Roman Catholic Church, though many churches now hold midnight mass at an earlier hour. Since 2009, the Pope has celebrated this mass at 10 PM and therefore it’s now also known as Mass during the night since 2009.
Each festival of different religions has these traditions and folklores associated with it and this what makes these festivals so full of happiness and gaiety.
Although social distancing and and Covid protocols are still in force, churches are gearing up for midnight masses for the devotees to participate either physically or virtually, on line!
Merry Christmas!
Arvind Arya blog 
Having read about the midnight mass as per above, I was wondering on another aspect of Christmas… the Santa Clause. As a child during our school days, we only had the Christmas Tree and Santa image coming to our mind whenever we thought of Christmas.
It now makes me think how Santa clause is associated with Christmas.
I searched on it and got to know that Santa Clause, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary character originating in Western Christian culture who is said to make lists of children throughout the world, categorising them according to their behavior, and bringing gifts on Christmas Eve of toys and candy to well-behaved children, and coal to naughty children. He is said to accomplish this with the aid of Christmas elves, who make the toys in his workshop at the North Pole, and flying reindeer who pull his sleigh through the air.
Santa clause also makes me reminisce of the secret santa event which we enjoy each year in office during this period and which I’m going to miss this year.
Merry Christmas Sir.
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Very nice Anjali! You can check my last year blogs where there was a piece on Santa Claus
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