Shillong shines in Christmas lights, bustles with tourists on Boxing Day

Shillong: Tourists from all over the country, especially neighbouring Assam and Bengal, added to the festive fare in the city of pines and orchids that was agog on Boxing Day.
Visitors in this festive season can be seen all over the scenic hill state, including the enchanting Khasi-Jaintia and Garo Hills regions. The footfall is increasing each passing day as the New Year Eve draws closer.
The day after Christmas, the Feast of Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr, is better known as Boxing Day. Alms boxes are placed inside every church on Christmas Day where worshippers place gifts for the poor of the parish. These boxes are opened on Boxing Day.
Churches of various denominations in the capital city and elsewhere in the state are organizing community feasts, which will continue up to the New Year’s Eve. “Christmas is a time for sharing and caring for each other and promoting love and peace among all, and it’s absolutely joyous to organize community feasts,” said a church elder.
Popular as ‘Bam Khana Krismas’ in Khasi language, these are occasions of great rejoice, when people of all social standings share food cooked in a common kitchen. Dotted with churches and chapels, the ‘Scotland of the East’, as Shillong is also known as, is agog with festivities this time of the year with street corners, market places and households tastefully illuminated.
All popular tourist destinations in and around the city are full of visitors. “We have come from Karnataka and are loving this wonderful place,” said a woman at the heritage Mawphlang Sacred Groves on the outskirts of the city.
On the other hand, with educational institutions and government offices closed, Shillong is a city of leisure these wintry days with people basking in the sun sporting their woolen best.
While government offices are scheduled to re-open in the first week of January, schools, colleges and other educational institutions would begin classes from mid-February.