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Participants start as children and continue as adults
YOUNGSTOWN
The inspiring pageantry and music of the sold-out 54th annual Boar’s Head & Yule Log Festival at St. John’s Episcopal Church is the beginning and renewal of a Christmas-season tradition for hundreds of participants and spectators.
For Robbie Murray, a student at Poland Middle School, several of his siblings and his mother, Kim Murray, who portrayed a lady-in-waiting, it is a tradition to which they eagerly look forward.
Robbie said his grandparents brought him to the festival when he was little, and he has been a participant since he was about 3.
“It’s neat to see them grow up playing many parts,” his mother said.
“One of the things I find so neat is talking to the people of the church, many of whom have played numerous parts over time, some for 50 years,” said the Rev. Gayle Cantinella, rector.
“People are hungry for this type of music, and our choir and organist are spectacular. The great thing about little kids participating is that it teaches them that church is a wonderful place to be,” she said.
“I never have trouble filling spots for the festival,” said Richard Konzen, musical director of the Boar’s Head festival and church organist.
“It’s not just another gig. People want to be part of this,” he said.
Even the members of the congregation get in on he act. They are asked to participate in the liturgical drama by joining the choir and cast in singing some of the songs.
Festival spectators come as families and groups of friends from around the area.
Lynn Miller and her husband, Tony Bellassai, of Slippery Rock, Pa., came to the festival with a group of friends from East Main Presbyterian Church in Grove City, Pa.
“We like historical pageants,” she said, waiting for the start of the 4:30 p.m. event.
The Boar’s Head Festival also was celebrated at 1:30 p.m. with a meal available between performances.
Mary Ball of Canfield was attending her sixth Boar’s Head Festival, with her mother, Jane Ball, also of Canfield, and friends and family from Canfield, Boardman, Columbiana and Hudson. They were guests of Dale and Cheryl Lisko of Girard, who work as an usher and in the kitchen, respectively.
The Boar’s Head tradition is believed to have begun in the days of the Roman Empire. In Norman England, the boar was the symbol of evil and the serving of Boar’s Head represents the triumph of Christ over evil.
The lighting of the Yule Log represents the warmth of the family fireside and symbolizes the rekindling of love.