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Christmas 2025 – Friendship Across India, Norway, and the USA!
Torunn’s Reflections After an Unusual Christmas Celebration
We first celebrated Christmas together in India in 1997. Twenty‑eight years later, we reunited there—my family visiting from Norway and Asha’s from the USA. For me, it was a joyful return to friends and familiar places; for my husband and our three teenagers, it was a different and exciting cultural journey. We all stayed in Asha’s large home, with plenty of room for two big families, indoors, in the garden, and on the rooftop terrace.
India meets you with a rush of color, scent, and sound: people everywhere; honking vehicles; animals that wander where they please. Rice, spicy curries, unusual sweets, and delicious fruit. Lush fields and palm trees. Buildings needing care and few notice. Morning mist, warm sunshine, and sunsets over the rice fields. Above all, hospitable, smiling people—open and curious, unafraid to ask for a selfie or a chat, and never too busy. Time doesn’t move in India; it simply is. People prioritize being together without stress when they are with others.
For our three teenagers, the stay was formative. They saw that people can live differently—and far more simply—than we do in the West, yet remain much like us. My football‑loving 16‑year‑old made friends and played in the fields. We met many people in the village and were invited to Christmas celebrations with singing, dancing, chai, and snacks. We walked through the fields and the jungle behind the house, attended Christmas services, visited hospitals, and explored markets that sell just about anything. A village girl decorated my daughter’s hand with henna. Asha prepared fantastic meals from local ingredients in her large kitchen. The village felt peaceful and safe; I could let my teenagers run through the fields or wander off to explore.
We returned to Norway with memories of a very different Christmas. Above all, we’re grateful for the encounters—with the wonderful people in the village, everyone we met along the way, and most of all with Asha and her family. They remind us that relationships across cultures are beautiful and valuable, and that friendship endures even after decades of physical distance.
Arise Villages 2025 New Years reflection
Reflections from the founder, Ashalata Prasad
In India, I grew up hearing the saying,
“Everything will be all right in the end. So if it is not all right, it is not yet the end.”
This ancient wisdom recently came back to me during some unexpected challenges in November 2024, hitting me with the force of revelation. It reminded me that challenges are merely waypoints on our journey, not the destination.
At Arise Villages (AV), December 2024 marked a significant milestone as we welcomed our first group of Norwegian guests. This was a blessing in countless ways and represented an exciting step forward for our program. While both we and our guests weren’t quite sure what to expect, we embraced each day’s adventures together, learning and growing from every experience.
New Year’s Eve in rural India offers a striking contrast to Western celebrations. While cities across Europe and urban India burst with festivities, our village maintains its tranquil character. Here, the landscape is wrapped in serene darkness, interrupted only by occasional truck horns and the soft glow of scattered Christmas lights.
This year, we created our own celebration, lighting candles across our campus and launching fireworks from our rooftop – perhaps the most spectacular display our village has ever seen!
The beauty of our village lies in its preservation of traditions. While many villagers have smartphones and internet access, connecting them to the global community, they maintain customs that have remained unchanged for generations. Most locals still prefer to greet the New Year with dawn rather than midnight celebrations – a practice I remember from my own childhood, when entire neighborhoods would come together on New Year’s morning to exchange greetings.
This blend of traditional wisdom and modern connectivity creates a unique environment for cultural exchange. At Arise Villages, we’ve created a space where these worlds meet, offering visitors a chance to experience authentic rural Indian life while maintaining comfortable connections to home.
As we enter 2025, I invite you to carry your own light of curiosity and openness on a journey to our corner of India. At Arise Villages, you’ll find more than just a cultural immersion program – you’ll discover a community ready to share its traditions, wisdom, and daily life with those eager to learn. Whether you’re interested in sustainable living, traditional practices, or simply experiencing a way of life vastly different from your own, our doors are open to those seeking authentic cultural exchange.