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The holidays bring people closer together in the spirit of peace and goodwill. This past Friday, December 2, and Saturday, December 3, the First Baptist Church of Golden chose to enhance this spirit of togetherness through an event known as “A Taste of Christmas Around the World.” As College Pastor Ben Makuh explained, “Taste of Christmas is essentially an opportunity for Golden residents and visitors to see how people celebrate Christmas in other cultures.”
Rooms in the church were adorned with traditional Christmas costumes, decorations, food, and artifacts from various countries, including China, Indonesia, South Korea, Bolivia, Ecuador, Argentina, Peru, and various African countries. The church also decorated an area in the style of an English “Ye Olde Fashioned Christmas” along with a nativity scene featuring live church volunteers in the biblical roles.
Visitors were able to navigate the rooms and enjoy the sights, sounds, and foods these different areas had to offer for Christmastime. They were fascinated by the different cultures represented, and the volunteers were just as excited about teaching the “travelers.”
Ogemdi Isiguzo and Jean-José Sophngui, volunteers for the Africa display, said that they really enjoyed the opportunity to inform people about the Christmas traditions of Africa. They pointed out the traditional attire, exotic food, pictures from Christmas celebrations in Africa, and the live Christmas chickens to those who wandered the room, explaining the significance of each element to the curious passers-by. Unique experiences could be found in every room.
Volunteer Mark Taylor, who described his role as a Victorian chimney sweep as being “a smiling face with a handlebar mustache,” said that one of the best parts of this event was seeing everyone in the church come together to help out with program. Makuh echoed Taylor’s sentiment, adding that it was great to see “[the] whole community come together and have a cross-cultural experience.” He described Taste of Christmas as a year-round event which takes “a lot of planning, but it’s worth it in the end.”
'A taste of Christmas around the World' has 1 comment
March 20, 2017 @ 3:19 am Martin
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