Thousands of Santa Clauses descended on the city roads pepping up Christmas celebrations in Thrissur on Friday.
Donning the red and white costumes they literally filled the city roads. In addition ot Santas, there were 2,000 angels and 22 floats. It was a different kind of Pooram.
Buon Natale, meaning Merry Christmas, is a Christmas procession organised by the Thrissur Archdiocese in association with Thrissur Pouravali.
People started pouring into the city right from the morning.
Decorated city
The city, which has been decorated and lit up in connection with night shopping festival, made the Buon Natale procession more colourful.
People even from neighbouring districts reached the city to see the ‘Santa Pooram’.
The 10,000 Santas and 2,000 angels have come from various parishes under the Thrissur Archdiocese. They have come from more than 200 parishes.
There were different kinds of Santas. Some were skating, some walking on stills and some were doing acrobatics. Flash mobs were staged at various points on the way of procession.
Union Minister V. Muraleedharan, Minister A.C. Moideen, V.S. Sunil Kumar, Prof C. Ravindranath, Mayor Ajitha Vijayan, MLAs, Church leaders and socio-cultural leaders participated in the procession.
Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath, Auxiliary Bishop Mar Tony Neelankavil and Archbishop Mar Aprem led the procession.
Eminent playback singer Franko has sung the theme song of the Buon Natale. Music Director was Ram Surendran and lyrics were by Fr. Starson Kallikkad.
There was traffic regulation in the city from the afternoon. In addition to the celebrations, various charity initiatives were also done in connection with Buon Natale. In all 50 houses were built for flood-hit families by the Arch diocese.
Feast
A feast for the destitutes was also served. The Buon Natale procession had already entered the Guinness World Records in 2014 for having the largest number of people dressed up as Santa Claus.
