Festive joy is in the air as the Christian community in the UAE is set to celebrate Christmas. The faithful will pray at churches and mark the festival with family gatherings, decorating Xmas trees with gifts and lights, feasts, and singing carols.
St Joseph’s Cathedral Abu Dhabi will see thousands of worshippers participate in a Christmas vigil before the grand celebrations.
The masses of Christmas Eve will be held from 8pm till midnight, followed by carol singing.
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“We are very close to the solemn midnight celebration in which we garishly remember Jesus,” Bishop Paolo Martinelli, Vicar Apostolic of Southern Arabia, said.
On Christmas day, there will be as many as 22 masses in 13 languages from 4am to 8.30pm at St Joseph’s Cathedral. Services will be in Arabic, English, Ukrainian, Italian, French, Spanish, Korean, Tagalog, Urdu, Malayalam, Tamil, Konkani and Sinhala languages.
Meanwhile, at St Paul’s Church, Musaffah, there will be seven masses each on Sunday and Monday.
Mass timings in Dubai
At St. Mary’s Catholic Church, there will be two early morning Masses on Sunday (December 24, Christmas eve) in English at 6am and 7.30am, followed by 3.30pm mass in English; 5pm mass in French; 7pm (English) and 9pm Arabic Mass.
Carol singing at 11.15pm will precede the 12 midnight solemn high mass in English.
On Christmas day (December 25), morning services in English will be held at 5.30am, 7am, 8.30am and 10am, followed by an Arabic Mass at 11.30am.
Evening masses in English will be held at 3pm, 4.30pm, 6pm and 7.30pm, ending with a Mass in Arabi at 9pm.
Services at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Jebel Ali on December 24 are as follows: English masses at 7.30am and 9am, followed by malankara mass at 10.30am, and Tamil mass at 1pm. In the evening, English masses will be a 3pm, 5pm and 7pm; and Malayalam mass at 9pm. The solemn midnight mass will start at 11pm
Masses on Christmas Day in English are at 6am, 8am, 10am, 5.30pm, 7pm and 8.30pm.
There will also be Sinhalese Mass at 11.30am; Filipino Mass at 1pm; Ukrainian Mass at 1pm; Spanish Mass at 2.30pm; and Arabic Mass at 4pm.