Chandigarh, Dec 25 (IANS): Christmas celebrations were on Friday marked by singing of carols, lighting of candles and attending the Mass at various churches in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

Hundreds of people thronged the churches in Punjab, especially in Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts that have a higher Christian population, to be part of the Christmas celebrations since Thursday night.

In Chandigarh, the main celebrations were organised at the Sector 19 Cathedral that was festooned on the occasion. Other churches across the city also saw a rush of people in festive mood.

"I took my daughters to the Sector 19 church for the Christmas celebrations. The decorations were really nice. We did festive shopping also," Anjali, a housewife, told IANS.

Many people installed decorative lighting on their houses to usher in Christmas.

Markets, hotels, restaurants and other places in Chandigarh were decorated for the Christmas festivities.