Friday, 25 December
Christmas 2026 in Kolkata
Christmas is Friday 25 December 2026. Kolkata keeps it in three places: the lights on Park Street with the stage at Allen Park, the Anglo-Indian lane of Bow Barracks in Bowbazar, and the old churches. Below: the Metro for Park Street and Bow Barracks, and what the city has not announced yet.
Friday, 25 December
Friday, 25 December
Christmas is on Friday 25 December 2026. The Kolkata Christmas Festival's 2026 dates and programme are not announced yet. As Wikipedia describes the festival, Park Street is walk-only on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Kolkata Traffic Police issues its own advisory each year, and that year's is the one to follow.
Where the city keeps it
Park Street and Allen Park
Park Street, central Kolkata
Wikipedia records that the Kolkata Christmas Festival began in 2011, run by the state's tourism department with the city's Christian community, with the stage at Allen Park. Before the lights, by 1767, the road led to a new burial ground and was known as Burial Ground Road.
Metro: Park Street (Blue Line)
Bow Barracks
Bowbazar, off Chittaranjan Avenue
A narrow lane behind Bowbazar police station, six blocks of three-storey red-brick buildings, about 132 families, most of them Anglo-Indian (Bengali Wikipedia's 2022 count). Known for its Christmas. Go as a guest: people live here.
Metro: Central (Blue Line)
Armenian Church of the Holy Nazareth
Burrabazar
First built in 1688, burnt in 1707, rebuilt in 1724; possibly the oldest church in Kolkata.
St John's Church
Near Raj Bhavan
Built 1784 to 1787 with Rs 30,000 raised by a public lottery; the city called it Pathure Girja, the stone church. Job Charnock's tomb stands in its grounds.
Holy Rosary Cathedral (the Portuguese Church)
Murgihata, Burrabazar
Finished in 1799 with money from a Portuguese trader, Joseph Barretto; the seat of Kolkata's Catholic archbishop.
St Paul's Cathedral
Cathedral Road
Cornerstone 1839, completed 1847, when Kolkata's Anglican cathedral moved here from St John's.
St James' Church (Jora Girja)
Entally
Two spires, so the city calls it Jora Girja. The first St James', near Amherst Street, lost its roof to white ants in 1859; the new church's foundation stone was laid in 1862.
Metro stations © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL.
Getting about
Take the Metro to Park Street for the lights, and to Central, in Bowbazar, for Bow Barracks. See the lights on a weekday evening before the 24th. Kolkata Traffic Police's 2026 advisory and each church's 2026 service times are not announced yet; we will add them here.
Stories for Christmas week
1:37:31StoryPlum Cake, by Srijato
2:28:44StoryTintorettor Jishu, a Feluda story
9:07StoryPark Street's lost cemeteries
8:27StorySt John's Church
5:36StoryJora Girja
Questions people ask
When is the Kolkata Christmas Festival 2026?
Not announced yet. Christmas itself is Friday 25 December 2026. We will add the festival's dates here when the state's tourism department publishes them.
Which Metro station is for Park Street's lights?
Park Street, on the Blue Line. For Bow Barracks, Central, in Bowbazar.
Is Park Street closed to traffic at Christmas?
Wikipedia describes Park Street as walk-only on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Follow Kolkata Traffic Police's advisory for 2026, which is not out yet.
Why is Christmas called Borodin in Bengali?
Bengali Wikipedia gives two reasons: the Akademi Bidyarthi dictionary says the days begin to grow longer from 23 December; Biswajit Ghosh, a professor of Bengali at Dhaka University, says the day is big in standing.
Send it to someone
We add the festival, traffic and church notices here when they are published.