(25 Dec 2005)
25 December 2005
1. Wide of Saint Mary's Church in Tehran
2. Close up of picture of Ayatollah Khomeini
3. Shot of Church
4. Father Christmas in front of a shop
5. Ground shot of Father Christmas
6. Various of shoppers
7. Majid Chegini, Muslim shopkeeper speaking to a customer
8. Close up of window with "merry Christmas" written on it
9. Shop window with staff inside
10. Set up shots of Majid Chegini in his shop
11. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Majid Chegini, a Muslim shopkeeper who sells decorations to Christians:
"More than 90 percent of our customers were Muslims this year. They buy the stuff for this beautiful ceremony of new Christian year because there are nice and beautiful things here like the pine trees and flowers. We sold more than 90 percent of the things to the Muslims instead of Christians!"
12. Christmas pine trees on pedestrian pavement
13. Karen Saroukhiyan (left), Iranian Christian, speaking to the shopkeeper
14. SOUNDBITE (Farsi) Karen Saroukhiyan, Iranian Christian:
"Minorities have had their own freedom in recent years. They have their own ceremonies and enjoy their personal freedom. There is no problem at all, minorities are mostly content here."
24 December 2005
15. Wide of Christmas Eve ceremony in Saint Joseph's church
16. Church chorus singing Christmas carols
17. Various of Christmas Eve ceremony
18. Shot of the priest
19. Various of ceremony
20. Wide of congregation during mass
STORYLINE:
Christians in Iran celebrated Christmas with masses and ceremonies held in churches around the capital Tehran.
Most of the shops located in the Shirazi Street of the capital sold Christmas trees and ornaments for the Christians.
An Iranian Christian, Karen Saroukhiyan, said minorities had more freedom in Iran than in recent years.
"They have their own ceremonies and enjoy their personal freedom. There is no problem at all, minorities are mostly content here," he said.
Even Muslims seemed to have been attracted by the colourful Christmas ornaments which were displayed in the shop windows.
Majid Chegini, a Muslim shopkeeper who sells Christmas decoration, said more than 90 percent of his customers this year had been Muslims.
"They buy the stuff for this beautiful ceremony of the new Christian year, because there are nice and beautiful stuff here like the pine trees and flowers," he said.
There are about 110-thousand Christians in Iran, according to the official numbers.
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