Plant tulsi at Mira Road with Green Santa

This weekend, don’t be surprised if you bump into a stout old man, with a white beard and carrying a sack, dressed in green. This is the eco-friendly Santa Claus, come to spread the message of caring for your earth.

St Joseph’s Church, Mira Road, will be organising a three-day Christmas Carol Carnival, starting today.

“The purpose is two-fold - to spread peace and religious harmony and to create awareness of the ecology,” says Fr Dominic Vas, parish priest and director, St Joseph’s Church. Since this year has been declared as the year for ‘Care for Creation’, the community took it on themselves to create awareness about environmental problems, with Santa leading the way.

“We have procured 100 Tulsi saplings which we will distribute to people on the carnival route, urging them to plant it and contribute in a small way to making our area greener,” says Vas. In addition there will be t-shirts with the message ‘Clean Green Mira Road’, to further the cause of the Santa Goes Green theme.

The carnival, which will halt at all major junctions in the Mira-Bhayander area, will start with a horse-drawn chariot with the green Santa, followed by a live crib (enacting the nativity scene), and then by the carol singers and church choir and schoolchildren dancing to the carols. The carols sung will include traditional ones coupled with modern favourites.

The first time such an event was held, was nearly two decades back, when there were fewer residents around and Mira Road was a sparsely populated area. This year is the start of what Vas hopes will be a yearly event that just grows in scale.

“We want to spread the message of peace, joy and happiness of the Christmas season, across religions,” he says.

The carnival will be from 6pm to 10pm. It will halt at main junction spots like Maxus Mall, Golden Nest Junction, Shivar Garden, Cinemax Theatre, GCC club, Jangid Junction, Shanti Park, Mira Road Station, Jamal Masjid, Shrusti, Royal College and Poonam Sagar Complex.