A smile played on the lips of Kayana Digal, a 25-year-old marginal farmer, as she walked around holding two-year-old daughter Lakhi in his laps.

In normal times, Digal would have been been enjoying a sumptuous fare of mutton curry and pancakes. But today he was just thankful for the white and red dress for his kid and the shirt and dhoti for him given by the administration. “Last year we could not celebrate Christmas as riots broke out. This year I was not sure until a few days back if we could celebrate it. But today I am sure peace would come to our life soon,” said Digal.

Christmas was observed in 60-odd churches and four relief camps in the district. At the K Nuagaon relief camp, 400 more people joined the 1,800 living there for the Wednesday night midnight mass and Thursday’s Christmas prayers inside a huge canvas tent, led by Pastor Prabodh Digal.

The CRPF, Rapid Action Police and Orissa State Armed Police had thrown a massive security ring in Kandhamal to prevent any untoward incident.

Even a tribal congregation by the Kandhamal Kui Samaj at Barkhama village of Baliguda block, to commemorate the death anniversary of Hindu tribal leader Khageswar Mallik, turned out to be a damp squib as just 200 people turned up. The administration had been worried as Mallik was a Hindu tribal leader who died in the violence following the murder of VHP Laxmanananda Saraswati last year.

President of the K Nuagaon relief camp Manyabar Nayak, who lost his house in the riots, was a relieved man. “Last night we did not feel any fear when we sang prayers in praise of the Lord,” he said.

Salji Digal, a 50-year-old daily labourer of Dadabali village in Gadringia gram panchayat who lost his wife Latika to the riots and never saw her body, put on a new dhoti on Thursday.

In Raikia block’s Vijaya High School relief camp, 24-year-old Ashalata Nayak clutched her nine-month-old son Himesh. Nayak’s husband Bikram Nayak, a pastor, was killed in Tinagia village in the August riots. “They killed him in front of me. He died on the same day we had got married. I miss him, but the presence of so many people in the relief camp is helping me forget my misery,” she said.

“Hopefully the Christmas celebrations would encourage people to leave the relief camps for home,” said Kandhamal Collector Krishan Kumar. “We were keeping our fingers crossed. But luckily nothing happened,” added Superintendent of Police Praveen Kumar.