In post-prohibition Bihar, Patna's Christians must find legal alternatives to traditional rum cakes and wine used to celebrate the festival.

Eric D. Rozario, the vice-principal of Don Bosco Academy, said: "We have decided to serve grape and orange juice, and fizzy drinks to our guests this Christmas, as we will not be able to serve alcohol or rum cakes."

He added that the unavailability of alcohol was not likely to dampen spirits.

"Before prohibition we served alcohol, rum cakes and puddings but it is not related to our religious customs," said Abhishek Patrick, a Patna City resident.

"Earlier we would serve wine puddings and rum cakes only to Christians. For our non-Christian guests we would bake a separate cake without alcohol. Despite baking rum cakes, we always kept the alcohol to the bare minimum required to increase longevity and enhance the taste. The rum or wine cakes would last us a month, but this year we will use fruits and nuts to enhance the taste."

Abhishek also added that his family's choice as non-alcoholic beverage included pure grape juice and fruit punch.

"Some people are mistaken in thinking that grape juice is wine, but grape juice is only alcoholic once it has been fermented," he added.

Sweet shops in the city have also begun producing non-alcoholic cakes in anticipation of a Christmas under prohibition.

Sandeep Mankani, owner of Harilal sweet shop on West Boring Canal Road, admitted that plum cakes with rum were a popular choice.

"As we cannot use rum and wine in cakes, we now make fruit cakes with bananas, walnuts, apples and carrots. They are priced between Rs 45 and Rs 600," he added.

Prohibition was clamped across the state in April 2016.