Imphal, January 05: The Christmas season, starting with the grand observation of Christ�s birth anniversary on 25 December and culminating with the New Year celebrations finally gets over in Churachandpur.

Except for the huge fire on 31 December and two incidents of killing on Dec- ember 24 and 26 which greatly dampen the festive spirit, there are no other major untoward incidents of violence during the week.

The Christmas and New Year celebrations this year were marked, as usual, by feasting and community singing services organized by various churches in all localities.

While most churches organize community feasting for two days each for Christmas and New Year, there are some pockets within the town where the celebrations drag on for three days or more.

Notwithstanding the grave financial crisis gripping the state, random estimates put the expenditure incurred by various churches during the season to be close to Rs 50 lakhs.

Christian community singing programmes continued throughout the night at many churches.

Apart from church programs and merry making, some churches and individuals also use the time to donate money, food and clothing to the poor, sick and the less privileged.

Some persons visited the two hospitals here and offer presents to the patients as a gesture of goodwill and love during Christmas.

The week starting from Christmas also witnessed a rise in accident cases, especially relating to road accidents in the town areas.

Even though the exact number of accident cases during the period is hard to find, hospital records indicated that incidents of vehicular accidents, assault cases and other mishaps took a jump during the period.

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