For the second year in a row, the Catholics will celebrate Christmas in a particular context with the Coronavirus pandemic, which has already claimed many victims on our territory.
In order to avoid large gatherings and to participate in the national effort to slow the spread of the virus, Cardinal Piat proposes that this year, the Christians live their Christmas Eve at home with their families.
Living the vigil as a family is also a symbol: our home becomes a crib where we await and celebrate the coming of the Savior.
How to live Christmas in the context of a pandemic?
Cardinal Maurice E. Piat situates the meaning of Christmas in the difficult context in which we live: “How can we live a merry Christmas at a time when Covid-19 continues to ravage? (…). In this climate of fear and apprehension, it is all our daily life that is upside down (…) In the midst of all this distress, Christmas can still bring us joy and hope! Let us remember that to celebrate Christmas is to celebrate the God who is with us in all circumstances, a God who is close to us, who comes to meet us on our way, where we are with our trials, our fears, our anxieties.”
In Port-Louis, as everywhere else in the island, the festive atmosphere is there, with prominent decorations and the frenetic animation of children’s toy stores. We made a video of the streets of Port-Louis. Christmas is, above all, a major Christian religious festival that commemorates every year, for the past 2021 years, the Nativity, the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. We met with Father René Bergougnoux to talk about this celebration.
