Kolkata Christmas Festival – Few cities in the world can match the festive spirit of togetherness and community. Christmas in Kolkata is not an occasion that comes and goes without leaving any trace. (Illustration: Mithun Chakraborty) One country, two Christmases.

Scene one: Kolkata, West Bengal. The residents of Calcutta (no, we’re not worried about the name) look up, and sure enough a whiff of song, a swoosh swirling rapidly in the air, is heard. Before she could catch him, he was gone.

But Calcuttans know that the special feeling will return in late 2026. It will return with Christmas-themed lighting on Park Street (now the Mother Teresa Table), in the singing of carols on stages set up in parks, by buskers on city sidewalks, in cathedrals and chapels.

The city’s iconic Main Street becomes “pedestrians only” for two nights. Churches are illuminated with lights as the new season arrives. Few cities in the world can match the festive spirit of togetherness and community.

Christmas in Kolkata is not an occasion that comes and goes without leaving any trace. Like Durga Puja, and like Eid in the city, take your time, organize and enjoy the fun. The Kolkata Christmas Festival, now in its 15th year, continues the age-old tradition of Boro Din (“big day”, as Christmas is traditionally called in Bengali).

In the days preceding and into the New Year, this festival is embraced by everyone. The lights, the decorations, the food.

Choirs, bands perform for people who will stop and listen a while – and smile and groove to the music.