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Tribes celebrate Christmas

Around the world, believers marked the birth of Jesus.

Many tribal people celebrated Christmas for the first time this year. As the realization dawns, they want to honor the baby that was born to carry their sins to the cross.

Every Christmas season brings another report of tribal believers enjoying their first Christmas.

When the Dao people of the Asia Pacific responded to the Gospel message, they wanted to thank Jesus for coming.

"If the day that Jesus’ cord was cut had never taken place, how different things would be for us Dao people today," said Paatoma speaking to those who had gathered to celebrate Christmas.

"We would even now be living as if we didn’t have any eyes. In fact we would be as a person without any head at all because we would be as those who couldn’t see, hear about, believe or even follow the good trail that Jesus brought us, that trail that leads to eternal life."

Many Dao people traveled two days to reach the village where Christmas was being celebrated and then they celebrated with three days of feasting and fellowship. The main entertainment was to listen to testimonies from those who wanted to honor the birth of Jesus.

 "We feasted on the meat of wild pig, cassowary, small kangaroo, cuscus and many tropical bird types," wrote missionary Scott Phillips, "some of which had been killed many weeks earlier and then wrapped in leaves and placed in the ground so as to preserve it for the great feast. We also ate rice and many various types of garden and jungle leaves, potatoes and red fruit."

Dao Christmas traditions had already begun.

For the first time several Siar believers in Papua New Guinea realized the significance of our Lord’s birthday. They were able to praise God and worship Him because He is their Savior. Because of this, several believers decided to celebrate the occasion with a meal shared by all, followed by a time of joyous testimony. They shared about Christ and what He came to do for them.

After dinner several Siar believers got together and wrote a worship song. Then they sang praises to God as part of their Christmas celebration.

Praise God with us as the Siars respond to the Holy Spirit’s direction in their lives.

Landuma believers in Guinea celebrate the birth of Jesus in a different way. Many of them were totally ostracized from their families because they left the traditional religion to place their faith in Christ. They take comfort in knowing that Jesus too was persecuted. One of the ways they take comfort as they celebrate the birth of their Savior is to sing songs about His persecution and rejection. They know the heartbreak of being rejected by those closest to you.

The Siawi people use an empty gas bottle as a gong to call the whole village together. The gong rang early Christmas morning to call the village to a meeting.

"The building was packed, as we met to worship and think about God’s promise of a Savior," wrote missionary Linda Krieg. Three Siawi believers spoke to the group and reminded the believers over and over that now they knew the real reason for celebrating Christmas. It was not a day for soccer games or a big meal, but a time to rejoice over God’s gift to mankind.

At 10 a.m. on Christmas the group met again to celebrate the coming of Christ. Beiyali, one of the speakers, read from Luke 2:8-14 in the translated Siawi portions of Scripture. "On this ground, those people with whom God is habitually pleased, to those people the way of peace has certainly arrived," Beiyali said. "That message from the angel is true, and the message has come all the way to us, here in Siawi!"

The news of the Savior’s birth has come to tribal people around the world and they join us in joyous praise

Would you like to go reach tribes and transform lives?

Tags: Africa, Asia-Pacific, Dao People, Landuma People, Siar People, Siawi People, Mission News, Prayer Papua New Guinea, West Africa,
POSTED ON Dec 27, 2012 by Dena McMaster