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| Rachel Ferguson is a pensive angel at the annual Christmas pageant on Sunday. (Photo by Lisa Aciukewicz) MORE PHOTOS |
All week I have been humming the tune to “Feed My Lambs”, the song the angels danced to last Sunday in the 41st annual town Christmas pageant. I cannot seem to get it out of my head. Going to our town Christmas pageant surely put me in the Christmas spirit. And it was not only the sweet sound of children singing that did it. Following the second performance at 5:40 p.m. at least 100 people lit their hand-held candles on the steps of the Unitarian Church and made their way down the hill to await the lighting of the town Christmas tree. A collective sigh went up from the crowd as the lights went on, giving an almost magical appearance to the tree and to the Common.
My memories of pageants past help fill me with the spirit of Christmas. My oldest daughter has sung in the choir; another daughter has been in the choir and in the cast, as an animal. One son played an animal this year.
The rehearsals for the choir start four to five weeks prior to the performance. Bizzy (Elizabeth) Herbolsheimer, Bromfield class of 1995, and Martha Brooks, a graphic arts teacher at Bromfield, have worked together for the past seven years fine-tuning the choral pieces with about 50 children each year, with Herbolsheimer at the piano and Brooks conducting. Brooks, who has been doing this for 14 years, said this is her gift to the town. Herbolsheimer, who has been a part of the pageant for almost 22 years, beginning at age 5 as one of the animals, has played a townsperson, a shepherd, and a king, but never an angel, she said, because she “had brown hair.” She said she has always been in the choir. Her favorite parts of the performance include the entrance of the baby, which, she said, “takes your breath away.” Another favorite moment is the final humming of “Silent Night” as the choir exits the church to darkness, and often to falling snow.
This Christmas pageant is quintessential small-town New England. It is an ecumenical pageant, bringing the three churches around the Common together, and is “a gift from the children to the town,” according to this year’s pageant director, Jane Snyder. The first performance, in 1966, was created by Anne Marie Arnold of Old Mill Road. Originally it was a 15-minute production, but it has grown and improved over the years. Arnold’s granddaughter, Emily Arnold, was a choir member this year.
Bill Cory, who narrated the Christmas pageant for 10 years, said he has many memories of pageants gone by, and remembers one year in particular, when he had to struggle through because he had forgotten his eyeglasses. Another memorable time, he said, was when someone turned out the balcony lights and people were stumbling over one another until he located his flashlight. The current narrator, Carl Howe, took over for Cory about five years ago.
For many families in town, participating in the pageant is part of their holiday tradition. Five of Janice and Chris Kennedy’s six children performed this year. Their oldest daughter, Kathryn, a senior at Bromfield, has been involved in the pageant in one way or another for 12 years. She has been one of the three kings, has sung in the choir and danced as an angel, and this year she coordinated the angels’ dance—managing rehearsals, costumes, choreography, and nine second-grade girls for one hour each Sunday for four weeks before the performance. Her sister Alice had a starring role this year, as Mary, and also joined sisters Kara and Diedre and brother Ryan in the choir. Kara also played the flute. Janice herself has performed various roles in the production of the event during the past 12 years, from being the St. Theresa’s liaison to monitoring sheep and shepherds in the dark and quiet recesses of the Unitarian Church during the performances.
The two Siegrist children, Henley and Hunter, performed again this year. Henley has been involved for 12 years in the choir and in other roles, and this year performed the “Star Carol” solo. Hunter has played a king and an animal, and has sung in the choir with his sister.
The simple sound of children’s voices, the joy of watching their faces, the collaboration evident in the seamless rendering of this special gift and then the celebration afterwards with the lighting of the tree, lights in the darkness, sweet sounds, being together—what could be better? Maybe the hot chocolate and cookies, the fabulous music performed by more talented Bromfield students upstairs at the Congregational Church, or the hayride…or the smell of the Christmas tree….