Buon Natale is the cultural festival organized by the Thrissur Archdiocese and Thrissur Citizenry in association with Christmas celebration. It is held at the premises of Thrissur city in Kerala every year from 2013. Buon Natale procession entered the Guinness World Records in 2014 for having the maximum number of people dressed up as Santa Claus. This event was started to raise charitable funds along with the celebrations.
The Buon Natale was first conducted by the Thrissur Archdiocese in 2013. This was flagged of by former president of India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. 5,000 Santa Clauses and 2,000 angels was part of this cultural event. In 27 December 2014 this event had the participation of 18,112 number Santa Clauses and won the Guinness World Records
The fifth edition of Buon Natale, the Christmas celebration of Thrissur Archdiocese, will be held on December 27.The focus of this edition will be charity, especially against the backdrop of Cyclone Ockhi, said Archbishop Mar Andrews Thazhath.“An amount of ₹22 lakh has already been distributed to 217 parishes under the Thrissur Archdiocese as part of Buon Natale celebrations. This amount is meant for support for chronic patients at parishes cutting across religions. Five houses will be constructed for economically backward families,” the Archbishop said.A flash mob of 5,000 people dressed as Santa Claus will be the major attraction of this year’s Buon Natale. Tableaux , angels, band sets, and a huge number of devotees will accompany the procession. The archdiocese has arranged a Buon Natale Christmas-New Year exhibition at Sakthan Nagar. A 100-ft-long cake was cut here on Saturday. Socio-political and cultural-religious personalities participated in the ceremony.The colourful procession of Buon Natale (‘Merry Christmas to You’) has been attracting crowd from far and near for the past four years. It had entered the Guinness World Records for having the largest number of people dressed up as Santa Claus in 2014.