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The consumerist face of Christmas has long made it synonymous with Santa Claus, exchanging gifts, hearty feasts, and Christmas trees. It took a village in Nagaland to remind everyone of the real spirit of Christmas.

Christmas is Best in my Village is a charming carol by a choral group from Nagaland called Nagagenous, which recollects the simple yet warm celebrations in the villages in Nagaland.

Hojevi Kappo, the songwriter and composer of the song as well as director of the choral group, recalls his boyhood in the village, where people took a day off from working in the fields and donned their finest traditional shawls to sing carols in church and around the village:

“It doesn’t snow in my village,
Santa Claus is unfamiliar to us,
though we don’t get Christmas cake,
Yet Christmas is best in my village;
Reindeers don’t roam in our forest,
Exchanging Christmas gifts is not our tradition,
Bethlehem is a place we’ve never seen,
Yet Christmas is best in my village.”

Sung in the Sumi dialect, Khrismas Ye Niphulo pavi shows the birth of Jesus being celebrated with banana stumps, sticky rice wrapped in banana leaves, axone chutney and pork, log drums and, of course, warmth.