The Boar’s Head Festival returns to Trinity United Methodist Church in Springfield as a living pageant rooted in medieval English Epiphany traditions. Via candlelight, procession, music & story, audiences explore seasonal ritual shaped cultural memory for centuries. #westernmass #boarsheadfestival
Two beefeaters carrying the Boar’s Head in the processional
“The Boar’s Head in hand bear I, bedecked with sage and rosemary!” #BoarsHeadFestival
“Masters in This Hall” is one of the songs sang in #BoarsHeadFestival. The lyrics were written by William Morris, a British Romantic and Socialist, around 1860. youtu.be/Mzr7TafjcDk?...
In an off-stage moment at the #BoarsHeadFestival, I checked my phone and saw an uncle’s IG post, reading “Boycott New York!” And I thought, “Wut?” But then, I looked it up. www.nytimes.com/2024/05/31/u...
The Reformation changed how anglo-Catholics saw the pope: "But the ferocity of the attack on him persuaded some Catholics to re-evaluate: English Roman Catholicism was in many ways a new phenomenon of the 1530s, one created by Henry VIII." #BoarsHeadFestival www.historyextra.com/period/tudor...
What is the #BoarsHeadFestival? Here's what the Reminder newspaper says: www.primeontheweb.com/travel/the-b...
Red tie showing the Three Magi and the star. The Magi are mounted on camels.
It’s hump day on #BoarsHeadFestival week.
It's #BoarsHeadFestival week. So if you like to see grown-ass people dressing up in costumes and singing traditional Christmastide songs that run the gamut (drinking songs, songs by avowed socialists, apocalyptic songs, etc), then you're in the right place.
The #BoarsHeadFestival has traditionally had a setting year written into the prepfest script. Last year, it was 1424, which would have put our setting in the reign of Henry V, the subject of several of Shakespeare's history plays. This year, it is 1525, in the reign of Henry VIII. 🧵
Sir John Oldcastle was a Lollard (a follower of Biblical translator John Wycliffe) and an inspiration for William Shakespeare’s Falstaff character. A boon companion to Henry V, he was accused of heresy, led a rebellion, and was hanged in 1417. #BoarsHeadFestival www.britannica.com/biography/Jo...
One thing about me: my family has performed in an elaborate epiphany pageant for the past 20-odd years. It’s a little like Brigadoon in the way an entire alternate universe opens up this time of year, focusing on 5 shows in mid-January. #BoarsHeadFestival www.trinityspringfield.org/boars-head-2...
