Catholics hold muted Christmas mass in Aceh


Catholic children taking part in a mass during Christmas celebrations at the Sacred Heart Catholic Church. - Reuters

BANDA ACEH: With flickering candles and the sound of organs, hundreds of Catholics held a muted Christmas Eve mass in Indonesia's Aceh province, the only one under ultraconservative Islamic law in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation.

Christmas decorations are not allowed on the streets of Aceh -- the only Indonesian province to implement strict Syariah law that includes punishments like flogging -- where 98 per cent are Muslim and just 6,000 Catholics live.

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Indonesia , Aceh , Christmas , celebration , syariah

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