A medieval Christmas tradition lives on

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, December 26th.

Thank you for turning to WORLD Radio to help start your day.

Good morning. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard.

Coming next on The World and Everything in It: a Christmas celebration of a different kind.

The Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival is a Christmas tradition that dates back to the 14th century. Its roots are connected to the winter solstice but some Christians have adopted it as their own.

BROWN: WORLD’s Travis Kircher visited a church in Louisville that celebrates the festival. Here’s the story.

AUDIO: [Choir singing]

TRAVIS KIRCHER: It’s past 9 o’clock at night, but the sound of singing echoes through the halls of St. Paul United Methodist Church. On the second-floor of the nearly 100-year-old stone cathedral, about a dozen choir members are singing of good tidings and figgy pudding.

The music director is leading the choir in another late-night rehearsal for the church’s annual Christmas event…the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival.

MUSIC: [Deck the Halls]

What do a boar’s head and a yule log have to do with the true meaning of Christmas? Well, when the festival first originated, nothing, according to choir member Cathy Miller.

MILLER: The actual serving of the boar goes back to Roman times, where it was the first dish served at a feast.

That tradition continued into the Middle Ages when the killing of the boar became a cause for great celebration. That’s because the people saw boar as a representation of evil. Here’s Director of Music Jim McFarland:

MCFARLAND: In medieval England, they were quite the menace to the average person, because they could come out of the woods and knock you down and, you know, root through your trash and all kinds of stuff.

But then came the Norman conquest and by the 14th century, some Christians had adopted the festival as their own. To them, the boar’s head was no longer merely a symbol of victory by an honored lord providing a great meal for his guests. They claimed it pointed to another triumph.

MCFARLAND: It's about honoring the Christ child, the baby who was born to save us all. This child who grows up and conquers evil for all of us and gives us life eternal!

Over the years, Christmas carols were added and in the 19th century, a family of French Hugenots brought the festival from England to New York. It came to Louisville in 1981 when St. Paul’s music director at the time, Michael Beattie, led the first performance. The church has made it an annual celebration ever since and they’ve only canceled it twice—both times due to COVID.

MCFARLAND: It's pretty much remained the same since the beginning, as far as the music is concerned and the pantomimes. So it's a really, a really wonderful continuing kind of tradition.

The festival begins after a twenty-minute choral prelude It starts with bagpipes played by members of the Louisville Pipe Band. Audio here from a performance nearly 20 years ago.

MILLER: It's wonderful to sit in the choir loft and watch the audience when the organ comes in with the pipes on Amazing Grace. It's really wonderful.

MUSIC: [Amazing Grace]

After that, the Boar’s Head Fanfare and Carol is performed…

MUSIC: [The Boar’s Head Fanfare and Carol]

…as a mounted boar’s head is brought to an altar at the front of the sanctuary—ostensibly as a gift to honor the Christ child. McFarland says the head is real.

MCFARLAND: In fact, last year, I had to take it to a taxidermist and had it touched up because there was a little spot on the nose and the ear was kind of getting a little thin. So the taxidermist, you know, made it look like it just died! [LAUGHS]

MUSIC: [Good King Wenceslas]

From there, the choir sings more carols as church members dressed in costumes bring their gifts to the altar. There are sprites, peasants and bakers, along with King Wenceslas, and members of his royal house. Choir member Nan Tate says even St. Nicholas makes an appearance.

TATE: He’s got a bunch of kids that come in with him, and they're yelling and screaming and bouncing all around and then he comes and sits down and he reads the Bible to them.

Miller says there’s a theology behind the laying of gifts at the altar. She says it’s meant to honor what Christ did through the incarnation.

MILLER: It's not bringing gifts to the Christ child. It's bringing gifts in honor of the Christ child, and represents the gifts that we've received from God that each one of us has to offer.

It ends with an appearance of wise men and shepherds—what’s meant to be the festival’s retelling of the Christmas story.

MILLER: It is pageantry, glorious music. It's nothing like anything else.

The Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival represents an example of the church through the centuries trying to Christianize what was once a pagan event—much like C.S. Lewis’ efforts to Christianize mythological figures in his Narnia series.

AUDIO: [Chatter in choir room]

McFarland says there are only about three or four churches in the U.S. that hold a Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival. This is St. Paul’s 41st year.

MCFARLAND: We've got adults who are still singing with us, who were children and sang some of those roles. One of the ladies who did one of the solos tonight was a child and sang the role—the Wenceslas page role—way back when she was little.

It takes about 300 people and costs about $20,000 to hold the festival—that includes hiring musicians and bagpipers.

MUSIC: [In the Bleak Midwinter]

But tickets are free and after the performance, attendees are treated to wassail and cookies. They hold the festival the weekend after Christmas. That’s because McFarland says people need to know the true meaning of Christmas doesn’t end on December 25th.

MCFARLAND: It's not about all the presents and, you know, the marketing. It's about this baby who came to save the world.

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