The scent of cakes baking and curries simmering drift from kitchens, mingling with the salty sea breeze. Neighbours carry platters of kuih, dropping in to share food, stories and laughter, while children dart in and out of doorways and carols drift softly in the air.

Here, Christmas isn’t a holiday – it’s a feeling, stitched into the very fabric of the lane… once upon a time.

“When we looked out of the window, we could see neighbours visiting one another. You could hear laughter and merriment, people singing and enjoying themselves,” recalled former resident Martin Theseira, 69, who lived on Praya Lane for five decades.

Helen Tee remembers the lane buzzing with joy. “Christmas was celebrated on a very grand scale. Everyone was very happy as they drank, talked and laughed together,” the 68-year-old, who still lives on Praya Lane, told FMT Lifestyle.

But the spirit of togetherness wasn’t reserved for Christmas alone: Portuguese Eurasians, Chinese, Indians and Malays lived side by side, their daily lives intertwined.

Generosity and neighbourliness were hallmarks of life here. Women would pack sugar, rice, eggs and other staples for those preparing for Christmas, Hari Raya, Deepavali or Chinese New Year.

When their own celebrations came around, the kindness would find its way back – a quiet rhythm of giving that carried the community through the year.

At the heart of the lane is the Assumption Chapel, built by the Portuguese Mission in the 19th century. Beyond it, until the 1990s, the sea stretched out, where children played barefoot and fishermen guided their boats home.

“The word ‘praya’ means beach in Kristang,” Theseira explained. But Praya Lane was more than a name – it captured who they were, a unique community shaped by the sea and by one another.

That spirit shone especially brightly in 1975, when sea erosion threatened the land on which the chapel sits, and the residents joined hands to build a wall.

“It was named the Wall of Friendship because the whole community was involved. We had the Chinese community coming to help, with some giving cash and in kind. The Indian Catholics also came to lend a hand,” Theseira said.

“The Malay fishermen, trishaw pullers and petty traders who lived among us helped, too, mixing cement and laying the rocks. It really was a community effort, and one of the best times of my life.”

In its own unassuming way, Praya Lane embodied values many Malaysians now speak of with longing – neighbours who looked out for one another, and differences that were not divisive.

It was a place where cultural boundaries blurred: Theseira recalled Chinese neighbours who spoke Kristang fluently.

Truly, life on Praya Lane moved at a gentle rhythm. Front doors were rarely locked. Families would gather in one neighbour’s house to watch P Ramlee movies together, their laughter spilling into the street.

The Tan home, the only one with a telephone, became a quiet point of connection, where neighbours dropped by to make calls and lingered a little longer.

Residents waited for pushcarts selling char kuey teow and mee rebus. Sweet treats at the Saturday Ice Café were a cherished highlight. Children turned the lane into their playground – spinning tops, flying kites and pedalling tiny bicycles.

And always, there was the ocean, teasing and tugging at the lane’s edges. “My best memories of Praya Lane are of playing in the sea,” recalled Christian Bernard De Mello, 45, Theseira’s nephew.

Born in a house on the lane, he remembers the pull of the tide and the endless hours spent on the shore.

But the 1970s brought change when a land reclamation project reshaped its coastline. “Fishermen lost their livelihoods. Other residents, especially the Nyonya ladies who made belacan and cincalok, also lost their source of income,” said Theseira.

Families slowly drifted away and younger residents left for better opportunities. Houses stood empty and the lane grew quieter.

Still, Theseira believes the spirit of Praya Lane endures.

Today, the Melaka Portuguese Eurasian Heritage Arts & Cultural Society, which Theseira leads, has turned No. 6, Praya Lane into a community centre. And every December, the lane comes alive again when the Assumption Chapel organises a Christmas carolling session.

As former and current residents gather and warm, familiar melodies drift down the lane, it’s easy to imagine how Christmas once unfolded here.

Praya Lane is a reminder that the true spirit of the season, like the best of Malaysia’s past, lives not in grand displays, but in the simple act of coming together.