A GRAND ORIENT-OCCIDENT FUSION

TNIE takes a look at the traditional Christmas spread that makes the season all the more delightful

- RENJITH LEEN

today before our tryst with the Europeans," says veteran journalist, historian, and author Ignatius Gonsalves. "It must have been an absolutely low-key, localised affair.

How It All Began Ignatius explains that the great travellers, including Marco Polo, who visited Kerala before the Europeans, have not recorded anything about Christmas festivities. Even the songs of the early Christians and literature from the pre-Portuguese period fail to mention anything about celebrations connected to the birth of Christ. In fact, one should be thankful to the Europeans, especially the Portuguese, for the lip-smacking array of delicacies featuring flesh and fowl that mark the Christmas lunch.