Zanzibar is around 97% Muslim, so it would be reasonable to assume Christmas passes unmarked here. It doesn't — two historic churches in Stone Town, Ramadan and Eid aside, keep a small Christian community's traditions very much alive, and December on the east coast has its own quiet version of the holiday.
St. Joseph's Cathedral
The Roman Catholic St. Joseph's Cathedral was built between 1893 and 1897 by French missionaries and local converts, on a mission site first established in 1860. The French architect Léon Vaudoyer — who also designed the cathedral in Marseille — drew the plans; the tiles and stained-glass windows were imported from France, and the interior murals show the same influence, though some have since had a rough restoration.
Mass is held daily, with several services on Sundays. Outside mass times the main doors are often locked, and the cathedral is reached through the back, via the courtyard of the adjacent convent. It sits in the Baghani area of Stone Town along Kenyatta Road, with twin spires visible from a distance — though finding it on foot through the surrounding maze of narrow streets can take a wrong turn or two. The easiest route is along Kenyatta Road to Gizenga Street, then the first right.
Christ Church
Christ Church, an Anglican cathedral, took seven years to build: the foundation stone was laid on Christmas Day 1873, and it opened on Christmas Day 1879. Edward Steere, the third Anglican Bishop of Zanzibar, designed it and is buried behind the altar — he died of a heart attack shortly before it was finished. Built from coral stone with an unusual concrete barrel-vault roof mixing Gothic and Islamic detail, it was consecrated in 1903 and named after Canterbury Cathedral.
It stands on Mkunazini Road, on the site of what was once Zanzibar's largest slave market — the altar is said to mark the spot of the market's whipping post, and a monument to the enslaved stands in the square outside, alongside a museum on the slave trade. Inside, a cross is made from the wood of the tree under which David Livingstone's heart was buried in Chitambo.
How Zanzibar Marks Christmas
Most of the island doesn't celebrate Christmas, though a few shops put up artificial pine branches and coloured lights regardless. The small Christian community — around 2% of the population — marks it much as it would be in Europe or North America, if livelier: Advent brings daily church services, and while gift-giving for children isn't the local tradition, families buy new clothes for the occasion and children and adults alike rehearse songs and dances for weeks beforehand. St. Joseph's held its first Christmas service in 1898, with the Sultan's own brass band playing; today, Christmas mass runs daily there and at Christ Church, followed by feasts at home or in a restaurant.
At Matlai, guests spending Christmas with us get the same half-board dinner as any other night — a daily-changing chef's menu at Zatiny, on the beach — with a little extra care put into the table for the day. Most guests here aren't chasing a European Christmas anyway: what they want is the heat, the sea, and a break from the season back home.
New Year's Eve
The same logic applies on 31 December. Expect a beachside barbecue, a bonfire, and local drumming and dance against the sound of the Indian Ocean — a genuinely different way to see the year out. Fireworks are rare on this stretch of coast: most roofs here are thatched makuti, which burn easily, so only a handful of large hotels run fireworks, and only under close supervision. Nobody misses them.
If a Christmas or New Year stay is what you're planning, email us with your dates — minimum stays run 2 nights standard, 5 during the festive season itself, and we'll tell you what we can put together.