The Christian community is celebrating the Christmas Day in the country, as elsewhere across the world, on Friday commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ.

Christmas, the biggest religious festival of the Christian community, is the celebration of rebirth, a new beginning, forgiveness and peace, and renewing relationship with God and human beings.

Decoration of Christmas trees with colourful lights, special prayers, and distribution of gifts among children and exchange of pleasantries are the main features of the day's festivities.

Christmas carols and hymns will be sung before and after the prayer sessions at the churches.

But due to the pandemic COVID-19, the day is being celebrated in a limited scale maintaining health rules, including maintaining social distancing and wearing masks everywhere.

President M Abdul Hamid, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Opposition Leader in the Jatiya Sangsad Rowshan Ershad, in separate messages, greeted members of the Christian community on the occasion.

They called upon the members of the Christians community to celebrate the holy day maintaining the health rules due to the outbreak of the second spell of the fatal disease Coronavirus that struck many world countries including Bangladesh.