Renaissance comes to life at 16th annual Boar's head and Yule Log Festival

Jan. 7—SHARON — A pageant filled with carols, medieval costumes, instruments and jesters captivated the people of Sharon Sunday.

The spectacle consisted of nearly 100 performers dressed in colorful clothes straight out of the renaissance.

From kings to queens, from court members to clergy, the people dressed in exciting clothes to engage the audience.

People flooded into attendance at First Presbyterian Church to enjoy the music and celebration of the annual Boar's Head and Yule Log Festival.

The festival comes from a tradition dating back to the 17th century. The boar of the festival represents an icon of evil, thus serving the boar's head shows a triumph of good.

The yule log represents love of people, so the love continues to rekindle every year, according to the story of the festival.

No one knows when the festival began, but here in America the festival became widespread in the 1800s. Sharon has celebrated it for the last 16 years.

For the first half hour, the audience listened to the music of brass instruments as well as several songs played on the harp. A choir of more than 20 singers also performed carols.

The church's pastor-turned-village-priest, the Rev. Glenn Hink, said a few words before the fun could begin.

"Evil shall be overcome, the boar does not run wild," Hink said. "Light shall overcome the shadows."

The festival officially began with the royal family, King James, Queen Marie and Princess Emily taking their seats. Other dukes, ladies and members of the courts joined shortly after.

The boar's head was carried in, with an apple in its mouth. The yule log was strolled through the crowd later.

The afternoon continued with plenty more songs played and plenty more costumes to be seen. A nativity scene was also performed by Dawn and Frank Willow, with their own infant playing the baby Jesus. Three wise men brought the baby gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh while the choir sang.

Near the end the audience was given a chance to donate to next year's festival.

Then the audience, or village members, ate cookies together with the cast of the festival as another year came to a successful end.

"It's a beautiful festival. The music, the costumes, it really comes together wonderfully," Sheri Brown, a festival-goer said. "It's my first year coming but I've heard great things before. It did not disappoint."

Ty Kohler can be contacted at tkohler@alliednews.com.