Please sign in to post.

Unusual Carol Services

Posted by (Lake District, England) on

Carol Services are a common question on here-

Two which are slightly out of the ordinary are-
York Minster- Sankta (St) Lucia Festival of Light-
St Lucia Day is a big festival in Scandinavia (13 December) marking the longest night of the year in the Julian Calendar. York, of course, has strong Nordic/Viking/Scandinavian (whatever word you choose) links, and a thriving Scandinavian Society.
So this service has been happening since 2013.
It would be well worth a day trip from London, ending with this service. I have just been watching a recording of this year's service (held last night, 15 December).
and
Leigh on Sea St Clement's Church Folk Carol Service
This is always on Gaudete Sunday (mid Lent, 14 December this year). St Clement's was my Parish Church for 10 years while living there (I rarely actually got there due to working 7 day weeks in London), and is an easy trip from London Fenchurch Street on the C2C line. It is a very different but very interesting service, Carols before the Victorian style which we are all familiar with now.
Part of my annual Calendar, now that it is live streamed.

Posted by
208 posts

Thank you for this! Both services sound wonderful - If I manage to time a future trip to England at the right time, I would love to attend in person. In the meantime I will watch them online. Thank you!

Posted by
5869 posts

Thanks for this! I am sad I missed the live streamed concert.

I was in Sweden last week and attended a Santa Lucia concert in Uppsala and then a few days later in Riga. It was my first experience with this tradition and it was lovely.

Posted by
11090 posts

During the last week I have been (online) to an extraordinary series of Carol Services at the Church of St Bartholomew the Great, London-
A Star Spangled Christmas- a service to mark the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin living and working in the Parish;
Britten's Ceremony of Carols (written by Benjamin Britten in 1942 as he returned from the US to the UK on a Swedish cargo ship);
Livery Nine Lessons and Carols (a service inspired by that at King's College, Cambridge, attended by all the City of London Livery Companies associated with the Church);
Stille Nacht- a German Carol service;
Medieval Carols (two identical services, at 6pm and 9pm);
Dickensian Carols (two identical services, at 3.30 pm and 7pm);
Candlelit Nine Lessons and Carols (two identical services, at 4 pm and 7pm);
and ending last night with a French Carol Service with readings from the Louis Segond Bible

All (except the Livery Company service) were free and unticketed (but a very full Church) with mulled wine and mince pies afterwards.

I expect a similar series will happen next year.

Add Reply

Please do not reply to violations of our Community Guidelines.