Nagpur: The Catholic Association of Nagpur has done away with the traditional carol singing competitions to keep the spirit of joy and celebrations intact.

“The competitions were creating a lot of grudges among the participants and we would hear comments challenging the judges and singers feeling bad about not winning,” said Jose Thomas, the association president.

He said they took the decision after consulting priests and other church leaders. “This year, we will give envelopes with a token amount of money to all the participants,” Thomas added.

This year, a carol singing festival was organized on December 18 at the SFS church with 35 groups participating.

CAN was revived recently after a gap of three years.

Carol competitions are a part of Christmas celebrations and are held by various churches and Christian organizations in the run up to Christmas Day.

“There is a high spirit of competitiveness at these events and we hope that though there is no first second or third prize this year but still the participants will perform with the same spirit,” said assoication’s joint secretary Terence Samuel. “We want to give out this message that when it comes to singing, praise of the lord, there is no grading of first second or third. Everybody who sings in his praise is equally good.”

The decorations this year at the church were understated and with no banners forming the backdrop. “The Archbishop felt that we should do only flower decorations and use different colored lights. Since there is no competition there is no need to put up banners which used to give this event a very commercial look,” said Manish Hirekan, association vice-president of . Coffee and cake slices were given to participants after the event.

Terming competitions as good and essential to retain the quality of carol singing, Melvin Kirat who trains various groups for these competitions and also plays music instruments says, “It is very natural for those who lose to crib and complaint. But the good thing about these competitions is that they help in bringing together all sects of Christians like the Catholics and Protestants on one platform. This helps in unifying the community and creating good fellowship.”

The other Christian organizations and many other churches are however continuing with the practice of holding these competitions.

(Source: The Times of India)