Fall/Winter 2011

One moment merry teenagers are somersaulting down the church aisle, the next the Three Wise Men are making their stately progress toward the altar. The Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival in Cincinnati is a raucous, moving mix of hijinks and grandeur, telling a tale right out of the Middle Ages. Cincinnati’s Christ Church Cathedral has been offering the free Boar’s Head Festival as its annual gift to the city since 1940, the 600th anniversary of the festival. This Boar’s Head tradition originated at Queen’s College, Oxford, England, in 1340.
Hundreds of church members dress up as paupers and nobility, as beggars and kings, for the spectacle’s three performances (plus dress rehearsal) the first weekend of the New Year. They bring the ancient morality play to life — the triumph of good over evil — with plenty of music, costumes and pageantry. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and yes, jesters and jugglers may very well hop right over you in the pew.
The head of a real boar, an animal that once terrorized people in the forests of Europe, is carried high for all to see: Evil has been vanquished by the power of Christ.
The musicians and choir set the fest’s tone, sometimes somber, sometimes frivolous. Audience members are urged to sing along on “Good King Wenceslaus,” “Deck the Halls” and “We Three Kings.”
Tickets are free, but you need to line up early on December 10 to nab two per person. If you miss the date, try stand-by — they always seem to squeeze one more into the pews.

- State - Ohio

- Type - Family Vacations

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