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Britain Celebrates a Multi-Cultural Christmas

   Selah Hennessy | London 21 December 2009
   Sarah  Brown  wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown turns on the
   Christmas  tree lights outside their official residence, at 10 Downing
   Street, 04 Dec 2009

Photo: AP

   Sarah  Brown  wife of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown turns on the
   Christmas  tree lights outside their official residence, at 10 Downing
   Street, 04 Dec 2009

   London  is one of the most multi-cultural cities in the world and when
   Christmas  comes  around it's a time for all the city's communities to
   come  together.  Our  correspondent  takes  a  look at how people from
   across  Asia and Africa have brought their local holiday traditions to
   Britain's capital.
   Britain's capital city London is known the world over for its cultural
   and  ethnic  diversity.   As  of  2008,  40 per cent of London's total
   population  was  from an ethnic minority group - and that cultural mix
   is reflected in the city's Christmas festivities.

   Harrow is one of London's most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
   This year its local council has organized a Christmas service to bring
   the community together.
   A troupe of Sri Lankan musicians sing a traditional Tamil song.
   And  members  of  Harrow's  community  read a prayer in 12 languages -
   representing only a small chunk of more than 50 languages spoken here.
   Victoria,  from  Uganda,  says this was the most important part of the
   service.
   "It  was  important  that  we  all say the Lord's Prayer in our native
   language to show that we can all come together and live as one body of
   Christ," said Victoria.
   It  was  a  Christian  service,  but  many of the people here were not
   Christians.
   Adeline  Abraham,  a  Christian  from  India,  helped  to organize the
   service. She says Christmas is a time for everyone to join in.
   "Everybody  celebrates  Christmas,  but  Christians  celebrate it in a
   meaningful  way,  in  a  different  way because it is our faith and we
   believe, you know, for the birth of Jesus," said Adeline Abraham. "But
   everybody celebrates it as a festival."
   But  every culture, she says, celebrates Christmas in its own way. For
   her  family  in  India,  one  thing  that's different is the Christmas
   dinner.
   "We  go  to  church, and OK we don't have turkey, we have lal biryani,
   and  we have the whole family come in," she said. "But usually we have
   the service early morning at 4 o'clock. But here it's too cold, nobody
   would go out.
   Farrukh Mahmood is a Muslim from Pakistan and has lived in Britain for
   over forty years.
   "Well  I didn't know very much about Christmas when I came here," said
   Farrukh  Mahmood.  "I learnt from my neighbors. They told me what they
   eat,  what  are  mince  pies, what are Christmas cakes, how they make.
   Naturally  I'm  a  Muslim, I don't use alcohol or wine, I used to take
   that part away and make the Christmas cake."
   At  this  service  in Harrow over 40 ethnicities are represented, from
   across  Africa,  Asia,  and  Europe.    And  everyone here is happy to
   embrace the multi-cultural fabric of their community.

   Jim  Ball,  from Scotland, says he believes everyone should be part of
   the festivities.
   "Its  lovely,  beautiful  to  see  people come together from different
   ethnicities,  different  corners of the world, and I think that's what
   Christmas is about - it is including everybody," said Jim Ball.
   And the story of Harrow's multi-cultural Christmas is only one example
   of  people  from  all  corners  of  the  world coming together for the
   holidays to share their gifts, stories, and cultures.

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