Spirit of Christmas: Rockland church revives traditional boar’s head festival

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ROCKLAND – The wrapping paper, bows and tags went out with last week’s trash.

Evergreen trees stripped of their lights and tinsel are perched precariously on top of snowbanks awaiting pickup this week.

The retailers have just about finished adding up their fourth-quarter profits, and heart-shaped candy has replaced chocolate Santa Clauses on store shelves.

While the secular side of Christmas may have been packed away, the holiday season won’t end for Christians until Sunday when they celebrate the Feast of the Epiphany – the day the Magi offered gifts to the Christ child.

Rockland Congregational Church has revived a 14th century tradition full of music, colorful costumes and animals to mark the end of Christmastide. More than 50 participants gathered Sunday afternoon at the church on Limerock Street for a dress rehearsal of the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival. Performances this weekend will mark the third year the congregation has held the event.

“People say when they come to the festival they feel liberated from the pressures of the season,” the Rev. D. Elizabeth Mauro, 50, pastor of the Rockland Congregation Church, said as the cast donned their costumes. “People say that with the festival, they’re finally able to tap into the spirit of Christmas.”

The church event combines two ancient customs. The tradition of the boar’s head dates back more than 2,000 years to the Roman Empire when it was the first dish served at great feasts, according to information in the program for the church event.

In Norman England, the boar was the sovereign of the forest and a symbol of evil because the animal was considered to be a menace. By the 12th century, much of Western Europe had converted to Christianity and the boar’s head became symbolic of the triumph of Christ over Satan.

The yule log celebration occurred during the winter solstice, when a fresh log was lighted from last year’s embers. From earliest times, according the festival program, it has symbolized the rekindling of love and, since Christ’s birth, the savior’s love incarnate.

The first recorded boar’s head procession was held at Queens College in Oxford, England, shortly after its founding in A.D. 1340. It became popular at the great manor houses of 17th century England and was imported to Colonial America, where it was first presented in Connecticut.

That is where Mauro encountered the festival 14 years ago, two years before she became pastor at the Rockland church. She and her daughter, then 4, took part in a similar festival there.

In a twist of fate, the man who first held the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival in Hartford, Conn., in 1968 retired to Rockport in 2000 and became a member of Mauro’s congregation. Richard Einsel, 76, now music minister at the church, helped the congregation adapt the show to its sanctuary. He also helped it borrow costumes the first year, Mauro said.

Music is an essential part of the program, Einsel said Sunday. This year, the Midcoast Brass Quintet, the Chancel Choir and the hand-bell ringers of the church will participate. The audience will be invited to join in on familiar carols.

Not everyone’s role in the festival, however, is to uplift the spirit. Brothers Eric and Ian Mauricette, 17 and 14, respectively, will portray gargoyles.

“It’s so much fun to come out before the show and try to scare people,” Eric Mauricette of Owls Head said as he and his brother straightened their claws and waited for rehearsal to begin. “As the show gets started, we go stand on ladders, lean over the top of the set and hold scary positions for about 15 minutes.”

Mauro said the addition of a theatrical lighting system and a new sound system has enhanced the presentation of the festival and given it the little extra boost it needed to really look and sound like pageantry.

The congregation breaks even but does not make money on the event, the pastor said.

“We give this as a gift to the community,” Mauro said. “We want to keep the joy flowing until Christmas ends.”

The minister’s 18-year-old daughter, Sari Mauro, echoed her mother’s sentiment but for a different reason.

“With my mom working on Christmas Eve and Christmas,” she said, “it doesn’t feel like Christmas until I do the festival. It’s my Christmas.”

jharrison@bangordailynews.net

990-8207

If you go

What: Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival

When: 7 p.m. Friday, 4 and 7 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m. Sunday

Where: Rockland Congregational Church, 180 Limerock Road

Cost: $15 reserved seats, $10 general admission

Information: 594-8656

Hint: Arrive 30 minutes early for the pre-show