Christmas celebrated with prayer for peace in Tripura

Along with the whole world, hundreds of christians in India's northeast state Tripura, gathered at Nandannagar Don Bosco Church to celebrate the annual Christmas Eve Midnight Mass.

They prayed to the Lord for world peace along with their state and hope that the festival like Christmas can restore peace and harmony in the region.

The priest of the church viewed that Jesus came to this world to bring peace.

Special prayers and musical programs from midnight of Saturday were conducted during the annual Christmas Eve Midnight Mass here.

The first Christian settlement, in once kingly state Tripura, is the Proteges who had a small colony at Moriamnagar on the outskirts of Agartala and had come as warriors and bodyguards for the Manikya dynasty kings who ruled the state for more than 500 years.

The mass prayed to the Lord with the theme 'Jesus Christ savior of the world', and for bringing down in the sufferings of people.

Thousands heard the priest speak inside the cathedral and people including, a good number of youth, turned out for the day.

Agartala diocese covers the whole state. Agartala, where the diocese is based, is Tripura's capital, 2,585 kilometers east of New Delhi.

Nearly 80 percent of the state's 3.7 million people are Bengali-speaking Hindus. Most migrated from Bangladesh (erstwhile East Pakistan), which surrounds three sides of Tripura. The state is linked to the rest of India through Assam and Mizoram state to the east.

Christianity entered the hilly kingly Tripura which later merged with India in October 1949.

However, along with the Christians, hundreds of people from other religion as well celebrated the festival with full devotion and decorated their houses with lights and stars for the day.