Like everywhere, Christmas is the most important, most festive, occasion for Christians in Pakistan and to some extent for the people at large. While the Christmas trees and bells, Santa Claus, Christmas cakes and colours are in harmony with international rituals that characterise the Christmas season, it is the local carols which are the most distinctive element which make the Pakistani Christmas.
Although mostly in Urdu, Punjabi and Parkari languages, the prayer services (or Masses) are held in English as well, especially in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad, offering an opportunity for locals and foreigners in Pakistan, including Filipino domestic workers and students from African countries to participate. The influence of local music and poetry dominates the Urdu liturgy, or the way of worshipping, in which singing is a vital part.
The Christian localities across Pakistan manifest different flavours and moods of Christmas. There is a marker of the rural-urban divide, however. What matters is also the size of the Christian population, the location of the settlement and the denomination. Moreover, the security situation in the area is of considerable importance. Around 50 Punjab villages with a majority Christian population host or join carol competitions, besides other programmes. Added security is seen at the major churches in urban centres and singing is an in-house affair.
A journey through some events of the Christmas season this year presents these shades and flavours of Christmas. Latifabad No. 10 in Hyderabad houses a sizable Christian population. Entering the streets on a bumpy road, one notices the fancy lights hanging by bamboo poles which illuminate the street after the power outage is over. A young man, who looked a little high but very courteous, helped me park my car at a safe place.
Walking down a pace, I hear the chants of Christmas carols. The carol party, composed of a dozen young boys and girls, stops at every door, singing Christmas carols and playing musical instruments, mostly the dholak and harmonium. The singing becomes louder when the door opens. The households are expected to hand out some gifts, in cash or kind, to the carol party. Then another carol party appeared in the second lane, giving the first group competition for quality singing and the number of houses visited.
While the rehearsals for singing start in November every year, the in-house singing begins with the Advent or the fourth Sunday before Christmas. “The carol singing, in the style of street singing, gathers pace gradually peaking on December 24 and 25,” says Mary, a student of Bachelors in Nursing, and a resident of Latifabad. “Like elsewhere, the Christmas festivity cools off usually by close of December or the New Year night but the mood continues till the feast of nativity on January 7.”
Christmas and political campaigns
Bait-El Church (House of God, in Hebrew) in Sector E of Akhtar Colony, Karachi is yet another scene of celebration. It’s a low-lying locality of 35,000 Christian voters, with its broken roads and dozens of churches, both small and big. The Pakistan Peoples Party was able to stage a comeback in Karachi’s politics in 2018 from this locality while Lyari, their Baloch stronghold was lost to Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf.
The campaign for the upcoming elections next year is on. Hence, the Christmas festivity is mingled with electioneering. One of the contestants, Irfan Ullah Marwat, is wooing the Pashtun voters of his ethnic background while Christians are predominantly Punjabis.
Muttahida Qaumi Movement Pakistan, championing the rights of Urdu-speaking Muhajirs, is trying to appeal to all sections including Christian voters by greeting people and participating in Christmas programmes in Akhtar Colony.
As part of a campaign to highlight the atrocities in Gaza. Tanzeem-e-Islami, a religious party, has displayed several banners in Akhtar Colony that warn Muslims against befriending Jews and Christians referring to Sura Al-Mayda of the Quran. However, this does not stop the Pathan boy from selling red and white Santa costumes on a cart, which are brought from the local Landa Bazar, the market for second-hand clothes. The Christian youth bought hundreds of these caps and suits.
Living through sectarian and political violence in the past three decades, the Christians of Akhtar Colony have toned down but not abandoned Christmas carols. One sees Christian children donning Santa Claus costumes, playing different types of drums and harping on well-known hymns.
The Christian Study Centre, in Rawalpindi organised carol singing in seven languages this year, including Korean and Tamil. Although some religious outfits have tried to dissuade the common populace from offering Christmas greetings deeming it un-Islamic in their views, different government departments of provincial and federal governments have been consistent in organising programmes on Christmas.
On December 22, 2023, the speeches at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat, Islamabad addressed the challenges faced by Christians with optimism. However, Tehmina and Joshua Tariq, enthralled the audience when they took the stage with their Urdu carols. Ik Tara Chamka Hey, Ik Noor Sa Utra Hey and Aha Yesu Aya.
Influences of Pakistani church music
Lahore, albeit its suffocating smog, and sickening anti-music campaign, retains some of its aura of freedom that is typically Lahori. Being the largest Christian population of approximately three-quarters of a million, the city has undergone many transformations, including ruralisation that includes the Christians migrating from villages across Punjab.
Irbab Younis Hakeem, a music teacher in Lahore has taught music to all his children, they make a melodious family band together. On December 21, 2023, they launched the Urdu translation of two famous English lullabies for baby Jesus, Come Unto Me and Rest.
Historically, the major languages of Pakistan, Punjabi, Sindhi, Seraiki, Balochi and Pashto owe a lot to the Christian missionaries of the 19th and 20th century for their linguistic survival and development. The first compilation of dictionaries and grammar was carried out by the initiation of the Christian missionaries mostly in the 19th century.
The missionaries were sensitive to local culture and traditions. Some of the liturgy was translated into local poetry from English and other European languages. As a result, the entire church music became a beautiful blend of the indigenous musical ethos with universal Christian concepts. The first category was hymns which were translated and sung in Urdu, keeping the European/ English tunes. For instance, the famous hymn We Three Kings of Orient, and O Come All Ye Faithful were basically translated in Urdu. The second category, way larger in quantity, was new compositions and poetry produced in vernacular languages and indigenous musical traditions. The Psalms, noticeably, were composed in the Ragas of the Subcontinent.
Missionaries of the 19th century encouraged the local Christian poets and composers, who did a wonderful job in indigenisation or localisation of what is called the church music of Pakistan. So much so that musicologists find convergences between church and other mainstream types of music.
Nevertheless, church music today carries all the influences of mainstream music including popular Sufi music — even film music. Composer Atta Ur-Rehman Saman can trace the influence of Bhajan music from the Hindu and Sikh religious traditions — devotional music that incorporates an element of yoga and sitting on the floor is part of it. Dr Yaqoob Khan Bangash, a historian, attributes the birth of pop music in Pakistan to music bands of the 1960s and 1970s in Karachi, which were dominated by musicians and singers of Goan Christian background.
One factor at play was that many Christian artists in the mainstream film and music industry kept their interest in church music. Singers such as SB John, the Benjamin Sisters, and A Nayyar while singing for Pakistan TV and film, were as much part of church singing. The Catholic-run Waves Studio in Lahore also invited Muslim singers, such as Madam Noor Jahan, Mehnaz Begum and Ghulam Abbas to sing Christmas numbers, which enriched the church music on the one hand and influenced mainstream music positively on the other hand. Then, Christian music maestros Ustad Paris and Ustad Jimmy Khan were gurus for many mainstream singers and instrumentalists. Therefore, the church musicians and singers, with their grooming in religious music contributed a great deal to the legacy of mainstream music of Pakistan.
Qawali music has made an imprint on church music as well. The annual Ziarat in September at Maraimabad, in District Sheikhupura, brings many singers together who sing Masihi Qawali and Masihi Ghazal.
Currently, the modern instruments are being replaced by the traditional musical instruments. Some people feel nostalgic that the piano has been replaced by the keyboard although effectively and the use of guitar has become more common. In fact, there is hardly any church in Pakistan today that is using the piano. On the other hand, the presence of Christians has enabled the teaching of Italian at Quaid-e-Azam University and Hebrew at Punjab University.
Over the decades, the Pakistani carols and the whole paraphernalia of church music and artists behind them have enriched the musical and cultural panorama of Pakistan besides feeding the soul with music and artistic creativity. Pakistani carols are not just part of a living tradition, they manifest the highest form of creativity worth listening to.
Peter Jacob is a researcher, freelance journalist and human rights activist associated with the Centre for Social Justice. He tweets @PeterJacobCSJ and can be reached at jacobpete@gmail.com
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