We were standing at the back of the church, talking about snowblowers. The six of us had just finished our first rehearsal as beefeaters for this year's Boar's Head Festival. Our halberds were leaned against the wall. Steve, the director, kept calling them "spears." But with my adolescent background in Dungeons & Dragons, I knew they were halberds ( Read more... )

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I had listened to part of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's inaugural speach on Wednesday on WAMC. Alan Chartok, whom I like to refer to as WAMC's benevolent dictator, was all agog over Spitzer, upholding Spitzer's honor to the callers that called into the special edition of Vox Pop for the inaugural speech. But he said something that stuck with me, ( Read more... )

After we woodsman have made our third entrance into the sanctuary during the procession of the Boar's Head Festival, we go and sit in the staging. I sit in a side left stage. After us comes father Christmas, then the shepherds, then the sheep, goats, donkey and the camels. After the wise men make their first entrance, there is a number with the ( Read more... )

After all the preparation, the first performance of this year's Boar's Head Festival is tonight. We had our full dress rehearsal last night with the musicians and the three wise men, but not the animals yet. They'll be there tonight. Yankee Magazine did a write up of the festival this year, proclaiming, "The most awe-inspiring event of the holiday ( Read more... )

The ultimate moment of the Boar's Head Festival comes after the three wise men have processed to the altar. The children flock to the front steps and the lights dim. One child faces the congregation, and a spotlight falls on her. A triangle chimes four times and she begins to sing, "Let all mortal flesh keep silence." (The tune plays in midi on ( Read more... )

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