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As Christmas hymns and carols blare out the tidings of comfort and joy from the birth of a Savior for Christians everywhere, from elevators and malls to homes and churches, Indian Christians seek joy and comfort in the traditions and the multifarious languages of their country. Carols in Indian churches ring out with the Telugu “Shudda Raathri” and Malayalam “Devivam Pirakkunu” or Punjabi “Sada Yesu Aj” and Bengali “Eshe Gelo Sei Subho Din.”
Not for them the culture of consumerism, rather, it is a festival to honor the real spirit of Christmas, gathering at their churches, reuniting with friends and family, honoring the birth of Christ not just in nativity scenes played by children but living the tradition of caroling around the tri-state area.
“Kids are torn between shopping and caroling. We don’t give much emphasis on shopping. We put caroling and Christmas services at the top,” Ravi Asoda, secretary of the Church of South India Telugu Congregation, told Desi Talk.
And for quite a significant number, it is the comfort of doing so in their native language. “Caroling is very much a part of our ethos. In fact, it plays a huge part in keeping the youth with us,” Asoda said explaining an approach common to many of the Indian Christian congregations. Kids get to learn Telugu songs written phonetically in English.
“By doing that we are keeping them in the church and we are sharing our Telugu culture and community,” he added.
Families that migrated from India in the 1960s and 1970s did not have the time to establish their own churches, being caught up with establishing themselves and their families, those familiar with the ethnic church groups say. But Indian immigrants who came in the last 20 to 30 years, usually participate in some humanitarian or religious organization. So the need for a church of their own was more acute and also possible to start.
Listings for Indian Christian organizations in the New York and New Jersey area show more than 35 churches reflecting India’s diversity in languages from Punjabi to Tamil, Bengali to Malayalam.
According to Pew Research, 18 percent of Indians in the U.S. are Christians of various denominations. The congregations in the tri-state area range from those with under a hundred members to those like the Syrian Christian ones with several thousands
The Church of South India’s Telugu congregation, tries to meet every Sunday, but in the month of December, all four weekends are given over to caroling in different homes and church groups around New York, Asoda said.
This past weekend was spent in Long Island and last week, their group of some 30 carolers, including children as young as one year old, went to Connecticut, Rockland County, and parts of Queens.
On Christmas day, members of CSI will congregate for the 10:30 a.m. service where the worship will include sermons, bible lessons, a Christmas play by children, but not the usual kind.
“Our women’s group has decided to put the play in the current social context. A mom talking to her kids about the story of Jesus, the importance of the tree, lighting it, and the true meaning – and not shopping,” Asoda laughs. “Kids drive our services.” Food at the Christmas service will be Hyderabadi Mutton Biryani, Mirchi Ka Salad, and Payasam, hearkening back to the community’s roots.
The CSI in New York was established in 1999, because Telugu families wanted a place to worship in their own language. They felt they were losing their tradition and while they attended “mainstream” churches they hungered for their own traditions, and most of all, the “wonderful feeling” they say came from praying and singing in Telugu.
“It started with just a handful of families, and now on a good Sunday, we have a crowd of 80 to 90 people,” Asoda says, although on an average Sunday around 25 to 30 people show up, he qualifies. Several times in a year, strangers roaming the Web for a Telugu church, land up for service.
The two reasons for that, Asoda contends, is worshiping in Telugu, and because this church is under the same brand as India’s Church of South India, following the CSI “order of service” people coming from that part of India are familiar with. “We understand we are limiting ourselves to one language. But it is our strength and our weakness.
The Rev. Issac Kurien of the St. Johns Mar Thoma Church of Queens Village, N.Y., a Roman Catholic denomination, says conducting the services in Malayalam has meant teaching the 3rd generation of youth what the elaborate signs and symbols of the orthodox Syrian Christian church mean.
When it was set up in 1990, the St. Johns Mar Thoma Church had barely 17 families despite its global connections and headquarters in Kerala. “Now 260 families are in my church,” Rev. Kurien says proudly.
When the Queens Village was started, members were struggling to find jobs in America. The 2nd and 3rd generation have been educated and now have stable jobs and are earning well, Rev. Kurien observes. “They are in my parish.”
‘Mar’ which stands for Saint in Cyriac, a version of Aramaic that was the language of Jesus, traces its beginnings to St. Thomas, a direct disciple of Christ who landed on southern Indian shores in 52 AD. Today, in the tri-state area alone, there are at least 9 Mar Thoma churches in New Jersey and New York and a congregation in Connecticut. Four of them are the biggest with close to 250 families, which translates to 1,000 to 1,200 members. Rev. Kurien estimates there are at least 5,000 members in the 4 largest church branches and another 5 with some 5,000 or so members. The church celebrated its Silver Jubilee on Dec. 5, and in the past has organized several charity drives and fundraising programs to help the poor, especially to help young women in India get married and educate children in Kerala.
While the Mar Thoma church with is Catholic, traces its origins nearly 2,000 years ago to 52 AD when St. Thomas, also known as “Doubting Thomas,” came to India, the Protestant CSI is much newer but builds on centuries-old history of other denominations.
According to its website which lays out the history, after India’s independence, the Church of South India was formed by the union of the Church Councils of the South India United Church; the South India Province of the Methodist Church, as well as the southern branches of the Church of India, Burma and Ceylon. It boasts a worldwide membership of more than 10 million including Methodists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Anglicans, etc.
Both these orthodox Christian churches, like most religious institutions today, face the challenge of keeping their flock, especially the younger generation, within the fold. Asoda and Rev. Kurien said they had made changes to their service in order to attract youth and to interest the little children. Hymns in English have been introduced in the service.
The 2nd generation is very loyal to the church, Rev. Kurien said. But the 3rd generation has problems understanding Malayalam, the language in which services are conducted. So an English service has been introduced for every alternate Sunday. “That has helped and most of the youngsters come,” he said. Plus, because the orthodox worship has numerous symbols and signs, classes were started for 3rd generation kids to help them understand what the priests are doing during the service.
Asoda said his church draws on the festivity of Christmas to reach out to youth with caroling and home visits. But it’s not just during Christmas that church members visit families around the tri-state area. Even during the five weeks of Lent before Good Friday, which commemorates the crucifixion of Christ and his death on Calvary, usually falling near the end of March, CSI members visit many families and pray together. They do the same whenever there is a death or birth or other event of importance that a family faces. “We are there for our members, whether it is going to hospital if they are hospitalized, or celebrating Mother’s Day.”
However, the sense of community plays a big part in keeping the young interested, though that applies more to children below high school standards. Once kids go to college, they move away and may come only when they visit home.
“The objective of this church is not to proselytize or teach lessons,” Asoda says. “It’s not to “fix” a problem but rather give the opportunity to a group of people to worship in their own language. It’s that simple.”
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