The Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival will be here before you know it! We hope to see you this December to celebrate the Advent season
through the "purple doors" of our beautiful Sanctuary
at First United Methodist Church of Huntsville, AL
This casual, family-friendly presentation has been a tradition in Huntsville for over 50 years! The event is held in the historic Sanctuary of the church with
a brass band, pipe organ, choir, and large cast of actors, including many favorites such as Good King Wenceslas, the Three Kings and St. The Boar’s Head ceremony is the oldest continuing festival of the Christmas season. In fourteenth-century England, the boar was a wild, ferocious beast and sovereign of the forest. Darkness and evil were the offerings of the boar, causing great rejoicing when a boar was felled as a celebration of the triumph of good over evil. As the word of Christ spread through the region, the presentation of a Boar's Head began to represent the triumph of the Christ Child over darkness and sin. What began as a celebration in manor houses has become an opportunity for praise and worship to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Along with the Boar's Head, our festival features the Yule Log, which represents the warmth of the family fireside and the rekindling of love as the old year passes and a new year is born. Familiar Christmas carols are sung by all, accompanied by our magnificent pipe organ, as the story of the English manor house is portrayed in the grand procession through the Sanctuary. The Chief Herald, Minstrels, Woodsmen, the Cook, the Huntsman and Pages, Carolers, Good King Wenceslas and St. The mood changes as the festival tells the story of the world in search of a Savior is told. Jesus' mother, Mary, sings of her need for God's strength to be a good mother to His son. The Shepherds, the Wise Men, and all of the cast come to kneel before the Christ Child as a choir sings an anthem of adoration. All of the cast members offer their unique gifts to the Christ Child as they kneel at the altar. After all sing to celebrate Christ’s birthday, the pastor and a young child in the role of a sprite, carry the light of Christ triumphantly out into the world as a witness.
