A Christmas village, sky lanterns, the superhero pappanji:the countdown to Christmas 2022 in Kochi

A midnight cycle ride, Gala de Fort Kochi....how Kochi is celebrating the festive season this year

Christmas returns to Kochi after COVID-19 halted all celebrations for two years. This year, all the pent-up ideas are taking flight in various events across the city. MetroPlus caught up with a few:

Pappanji destroys the Coronavirus

The highlight of festivities in Fort Kochi is a 50-foot figure of Father Time or Pappanji puncturing the coronavirus with his boot, at the south corner of Parade Maidan. “This year it’s the pappanji that killed the coronavirus” says former mayor K.J. Sohan. The local tradition of burning these figures, he points out, originated with Portuguese culture. The suited-booted-bearded Pappanji, made of straw and used cloth, will be placed at road junctions and torched on the midnight of December 31 to symbolically mark the end of the previous year’s troubles.

 Around 300 riders, all dressed as Santa, are expected to participate in the 25km “Jingle Bell Cycle Bell” ride from Edappaly St. George’s Church to Veli Ground in Fort Kochi. This will take place from 9m to 11pm on December 24. Father Siju Joseph, director of Fatima Hospital and a member of Cycle Team Kochi, is organising the ride and says that the idea is “to spread the values of Christmas” and that “the riders can attend midnight mass at Amaravathy and Mandiram churches”. The ride that will end with a cake cutting function is supported by other cycling clubs and the local legislator K J Maxi.

The century-old, 80-foot giant rain tree at Veli Maidan in Fort Kochi will be another star attraction as it will be decorated with stars, clay bells, balls, streamers and baby Santa figures. The tree will also be lit up from December 25 to January 2, 2023. The Knights United Sports Club, a local body founded in 2013, will take charge of the tree, which has branches spread over 30 feet. Committee member Sajil George says, “We started decorating the tree in a small way in 2013 with 100 serial bulbs. Now we use 50,000 bulbs. The total budget is roughly Rs.8 lakhs. Two generators at Rs.35,000 a day is a major expense.” After the inauguration at 7.00 p.m. on Christmas Day, there will be a mega show of dance, mimicry and light music on December 27.

Lighting up the sky

Benedict Fernandez, Councillor of Ward No. 27, Cochin Corporation, has inspired the people of his locality to create an  akash vilakku or sky lantern that decorated their homes during Christmas and New Year till the 1970s. Benedict explains that this was a legacy brought to Kochi from Macao, a Portuguese colony off Hong Kong. Thirty feet high and 12 feet in diameter, the lantern has been made from special cotton cloth, bamboo, coloured bulbs and tubes. Earlier, recalls, Benedict, the lantern would be lit from kerosene lamps kept inside it. The sky lantern can be viewed at Gala de Fort Kochi at Veli Maidan from December 23.