Former international cricketer Bobby Rao has a very important job on 25 December – he’s on turkey duty.

Born in Hyderabad, Bobby played test cricket for India in the 1970s but has lived in Strabane, County Tyrone, since 1980.

As a Hindu, 25 December does not hold any religious significance, but he and his Christian wife Josephine enjoy celebrating each other’s traditions, with midnight Mass on Christmas Eve a definite on the festive calendar.

“As a Hindu, we respect all the religions, that’s how we were brought up,” he said.

“I have a lot of Christian friends back home in India, so we celebrated [Christmas] with them, we went to their homes and celebrated and when we had our Diwali [Hindu Festival of Lights] they came.”

On Christmas Day, they will have more than two dozen friends around for a traditional turkey dinner, followed on Boxing Day by an Indian banquet.

“I’ll be stuffing the turkey, my wife taught me how to do all that, so we have a perfect Christmas here.”

Farida Hassan, a Muslim from Sudan, is spending her first Christmas in Northern Ireland.

Now living in Londonderry, she said she loved the way it brings families and communities together.

“It’s the first time for me to see the celebrations of Christmas,” she said.

“I know it means a lot for Christian people, it’s a big celebration for Christians and they just stay at home with their families and that’s an amazing thing.

“The place where I live [in the Bogside] I see a lot of people doing the lights and I say to them on the street ‘Merry Christmas’ and they say ‘Merry Christmas to you, love, Merry Christmas’.”

And while she does not have a Christmas tree of her own, she likes to see her neighbours’ decorations.

On Christmas Day itself, she will have Sudanese-style chicken dinner with friends and just relax.

Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, ended on 22 December this year.

Michael Black, who is deputy chairman of the Belfast Jewish Community, said it had been a very anxious time following the attack on Jewish people in Bondi Beach.

Fifteen people were killed and dozens more injured when two gunmen opened fire on a Hanukkah celebration on 14 December.

“It’s terrible, it’s a terrible atrocity,” he said, adding that the wider community here were “very supportive”.

Like many non-Christians, some Jews have adopted some of the traditions associated with Christmas.

In 2023, a survey from the Institute of Jewish Policy Research, found that in the UK almost three in 10 (28%) said they put up a Christmas tree some years, most years or every year.

“We don’t celebrate the religious festival of Christmas,” he said.

“It only coincides with the Jewish festival of Hanukkah.

“Having said that, some families – especially where there are mixed marriages – will have a Christmas dinner, non-religious, where they will probably give presents to the children, just so that our own children don’t feel left out.”