Christmas 2027 in India, date, holidays and traditions

Christmas 2027 falls on Saturday, 25 December. The season of Advent, the four weeks of preparation before Christmas, begins on Sunday, 28 November, and Christmas Eve falls on Friday, 24 December.

Christmas is a gazetted holiday on the Union government's list for 2027, but because it falls on a Saturday, offices that are closed on Saturdays will not get an extra day off. Here are the dates, the holidays and how Christmas is celebrated across India.

Key points

• Christmas 2027: Saturday 25 December (gazetted holiday).
• Christmas Eve: Friday 24 December (restricted holiday for central government staff).
• Advent begins: Sunday 28 November 2027.
• No substitute holiday is given when a gazetted holiday falls on a weekend.
• New Year's Eve falls on Friday 31 December, giving a second long weekend.

Christmas 2027 dates at a glance

Christmas 2027 holidays in India

• Central government: Christmas on 25 December is one of the 17 gazetted holidays in 2027. The government's holiday list says no substitute day is given when a holiday falls on a weekly off, so staff on a five-day week will not get a separate day off. Christmas Eve on Friday 24 December is a restricted holiday, which staff can choose as one of their two restricted holidays.
• Long weekend: Taking Christmas Eve off gives a three-day weekend from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 December.
• States and schools: States publish their own lists, and many schools close for winter holidays around Christmas. Banks are usually closed on 25 December under state lists.
• New Year: New Year's Eve falls on Friday 31 December and New Year's Day on Saturday 1 January 2028, so the week between Christmas and New Year is likely to be one of the busiest for travel.

The meaning of Christmas

Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem, as told in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. Christians believe Jesus is the Son of God, and Christmas is one of the two most important feasts of the Christian year, alongside Easter.

Advent, which begins on 28 November 2027, is a season of preparation. Many churches and homes light one candle on an Advent wreath each Sunday, and children count the days with Advent calendars.

How Christmas is celebrated in India

India has about 2.8 crore Christians, around 2.3% of the population according to the 2011 Census, with large communities in Kerala, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and the northeastern states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya, where Christians are a majority. But Christmas in India is celebrated far beyond the church, by people of every faith.

• Midnight Mass: On the night of 24 December, churches hold Midnight Mass, often packed to the doors.
• Stars and cribs: Homes and churches hang paper or bamboo star lanterns and build cribs, nativity scenes with figures of Mary, Joseph, the infant Jesus, shepherds and the three wise men.
• Carols: Carol groups go from house to house in the weeks before Christmas, especially in Kerala, Goa and the Northeast.
• Christmas trees: Decorated trees, sometimes a mango or banana tree in place of a fir, stand in homes, malls and churches.

Christmas around India

• Kerala: Star lanterns outside almost every Christian home, carol processions, and appam with stew, duck roast and plum cake for Christmas lunch.
• Goa: Midnight Mass in historic churches, Christmas markets, and the tradition of kuswar, a plate of home-made sweets such as neureos, kulkuls, bebinca and dodol shared with neighbours.
• Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya: Christmas is the biggest festival of the year, with whole villages and towns decorated, church choirs and community feasts. In Nagaland, the Hornbill Festival in the first ten days of December adds to the season.
• Kolkata: Park Street is lit up for weeks, with crowds, bands and food stalls, and the city's old bakeries sell plum cakes and rum balls.
• Mumbai: Bandra and other East Indian Christian neighbourhoods decorate their streets and churches.
• Puducherry, Chennai and Velankanni: Large celebrations at the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health in Velankanni, one of India's best-known pilgrimage churches.

The Indian Christmas cake

The rich, dark plum cake, made with dry fruit soaked for weeks, is the taste of Christmas in India. Kerala's bakers trace India's first locally made Christmas cake to Thalassery, where the baker Mambally Bapu, who had learned baking in Burma and ran the Royal Biscuit Factory, is said to have recreated a British planter's plum cake in 1883, according to most accounts, using a local fruit brew in place of brandy. The bakery's descendants still make Christmas cakes in Thalassery. Today, cake-mixing ceremonies, where fruit is soaked in rum or juice in large quantities, are held in hotels and homes from late October and November.

Christmas for children

For many children in India, Christmas means Santa Claus (often called Christmas Thatha in Tamil Nadu and Christmas Appooppan in Kerala), school Christmas parties and nativity plays, and gifts under the tree. In many schools, regardless of religion, the last day before the winter break is a Christmas celebration, with carols and a visit from a teacher dressed as Santa.

Christmas greetings in Indian languages

In Hindi-speaking north India, Christmas has long been called Bada Din, "the big day". A few common greetings:

Sending sweets or a slice of cake to neighbours with a greeting is a Christmas custom in many Indian towns, whatever the family's faith.

Christmas for Indians abroad

For Indian families in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and the Gulf, Christmas is often a time for travel home. With Christmas on a Saturday in 2027, flights to India in the days around 18 to 24 December are likely to be expensive; book early. Indian-language Masses, including Malayalam, Konkani and Tamil services, are held in many cities abroad.

Orthodox churches that follow the older Julian calendar celebrate Christmas on 7 January.

Planning for Christmas 2027

• Travel to Goa and Kerala: The Christmas and New Year fortnight is peak season. Book hotels and flights months ahead.
• Church services: Midnight Mass in popular churches fills up early; arrive well in advance.
• Weather: North India is cold and foggy in late December, which often delays trains and flights.
• Shopping: Bakeries take cake orders weeks in advance in Kerala, Goa and Kolkata, and star lanterns and crib figures sell out in the last week. Buy early if you want a particular design.

See every festival of the year in our full festival calendar for 2027, and our Good Friday and Easter 2027 guide.

From the first Advent candle on 28 November to the stars and carols of Christmas Eve, the 2027 Christmas season ends the year on a Saturday. Plan your travel early, and enjoy the cake.