Here’s how Kolkata’s Christmas celebrations have evolved over the years

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Christmas nostalgia in Kolkata transports me to the time when grandmothers baked cakes at home in large gas ovens. For bigger parties, they would turn to famous bakeries like Saldanha. It reminds me of honey roast pork’s fragrance and the giggles of children gathered around the Christmas tree to exchange gifts. Even as the city has progressed from Burrah Din (or Boro Din) to what is now known as Christmas Puja, the festive spirit is still alive in the cultural zeitgeist of Calcuttans.

Outside bakery Saldanha
| Photo Credit:
Special arrangement

Christmas used to be celebrated with the same enthusiasm as Durga Puja, it still is celebrated as Christmas Puja but in a different way. The festive season takes you back to the yesteryear bakeries of Kolkata, like Firpo’s and Nahoum and Sons bakery. Nahoum, with its crowded lines in New Market, is a festive hub. Though Norman Israel, the third-generation Jewish owner of Nahoum, no longer manages the Christmas rush at Nahoum, the lines for their plum cakes are still serpentine. Celebrated journalist, food writer, and music aficionado Ian Zachariah reminisces about the plum tikkis and fudge there.

I always head to Kookie Jar, which hits the sweet spot with nutty corners, lemon tarts and their Christmas pudding, which to me is comparable to that of the famous Harrods Christmas pudding. The popular cafe has been making special chicken envelopes and mutton patties for the last 40 years. While you are there, pick up a chicken egg sandwich too.

Seasonal cake at Nahoum and Sons.
| Photo Credit:
Sreyashi Ghosh

In 1927, Trincas and Flurys stood together, a symbol of unity and culinary delight. By 1939, they parted ways, each carving its own niche in Kolkata’s vibrant landscape. Trincas evolved into a nightlife hub by 1950, thanks to the partnership of Ellis Joshua and Om Prakash Puri, launching the careers of many musicians, including Usha Uthup. Today, Om’s grandson Anand Puri carries forward this legacy, turning nostalgia into a modern experience.

Kolkata, West Bengal, India – 25.12.2018 : Young ladies with red santa claus hats enjoying themselves at illuminated and decorated park street with lights with year end festive mood.
| Photo Credit:
RNMitra

Chef Vikas Kumar, director food production at Flurys, reminisces about how the Swiss confectionery transformed into a sought-after tea room and brand. He says,“The simplest ingredients, prepared with care often create the most profound culinary experiences.” My own memories of Flurys are filled with warmth and joy. Living on Loudon Street, my father and I would often visit Flurys for breakfast after my classes at Masonic Montessori. The chicken omelette and hot toasted buttered bread with mushrooms is a treat I still cherish. Flurys was a multigenerational haven, where my mother, after her classes at Loreto House, enjoyed the privilege of signing for pastries and savouries with her college friends.

As a millennial, I fondly remember Christmas on Park Street. Adorned with lights, the street never slept through December. Crowds gathered outside Kusum Rolls, donning Santa hats and other festive accessories. Park Street, during Christmas, is a thing of joy and beauty, with the streets decorated with multicoloured fairy lights and the nostalgia of all the restaurants that stood there, contouring the magnificent festooned heart of the city.

This image was made on 25th of December 2018 in the afternoon. People waited outside a restaurant on 25th December 2018 in Park Street, Kolkata, West Bengal. Park Street is decorated very beautifully with lights every year during Christmas and it attracts a lot of spectators.
| Photo Credit:
Sayan Chaudhuri

Restaurateur Nitin Kothari, who owns Mocambo and Peter Cat, rightly points out that Park Street is the high street of Calcutta and still is when it comes to Christmas. Old-school establishments, like Mocambo and Peter Cat, have stood the test of time, and the regulars come in hordes throughout winter ordering prawn cocktails and devilled crabs at Mocambo, and chelo kebabs at Peter Cat.

This city’s unique club culture at The Calcutta Club, The Tollygunge Club, Saturday Club and Bengal Club comes alive with their Christmas spirit, as do other haunts of the city, including Elliot Road and Rippon Street. From elaborate Christmas lunches and polo matches to carol singers, as Kolkata-based art collector and gourmand Bomti Iyengar fondly remembers from his childhood Christmas memories.

Vintage menu card from Trincas
| Photo Credit:
Anand Puri

Glenburn Penthouse, a popular boutique hotel, promises roast turkey, Christmas pudding and mulled wine this year. Chef Shaun Kenworthy and Paul Walsh have been organising a rugby match for underprivileged kids at Maidan, known as the Christmas Camp, for a decade. This event is an offshoot of Christmas lunch at Glenburn.

From the nooks and crannies of Ripon Street to Bow Barracks, with its lady who makes wine — the charm of Christmas in Kolkata swings between old-world traditions and new age fads like cake mixing (now a thing from Flurys to IIHM Kolkata) and Christmas tree lighting at the luxury hotels. It’s become a glitzy affair to sip on mulled wine in formal dinner jackets.

Anirban Mitra and Gouri Basu’s coffee table book Cherries & Cream (published by the Eastern Zonal Cultural Centre, Ministry of Culture, Government of India) captures these memories, preserving the essence of a Kolkata Christmas for generations to come. Gouri Basu, who is the former Vice Principal of Loreto House and is now with the Ministry of Culture, says “Christmas in Kolkata is very close to my heart. Whether they are plum cakes from Nahoums or the chicken patties from Flurys, these flavors take me down memory lane. Even when I visit my children and grandchildren overseas I carry these for them.”

A unique low-key celebration of Krishto Utsav at glass temple, which is loacted in Tagore’s Santiniketan, where Christmas carols and Tagore’s songs inspired by Western influences are celebrated on another spectrum from Calcutta proper — Hallelujah, it’s winter!

Published – December 20, 2024 04:29 pm IST