5. Christmas at King's

Happy Christmas everyone! (way belated, but when I wrote this it actually was Christmas...)

Here in Cambridge, the whole town is basically shut down for the holiday.  My parents finally got here, despite the 5 inches of snow that completely shut down one of the world's largest international hubs (Heathrow airport) and I am really enjoying some quality family time. It's been great just wandering around the town, and taking my family to some of my favorite places here in Cambridge.

Yesterday (barely 24 hours after my parents had arrived) we got up at 6 am in order to partake in a timeless Cambridge tradition: attending the King's College Christmas service.  The service is famous around the world, and is broadcast by the BBC on the radio.  Only 650 people can actually get into the chapel to hear the service, so we had to get to King's early in the morning to wait in line to be admitted.  And the first 160 actually get to sit in front of the screen, in the chapel with the choir.  It was also freezing yesterday, so it was a test of endurance to stand outside for 6 hours, and we didn't even make it into the chapel!  However, there was a coffee shop at the college where we could spell each other, and it was totally worth it in the end, since the service was beyond amazing.

The service was held in King's College chapel, which, as I think I've mentioned before, is a gorgeous work of gothic architecture.  King's itself was founded in 1441 by Henry VI as a place where boys from the school he founded (Eton) could go to be educated at Cambridge.  Around this time, work on the chapel began, but was interrupted by the War of the Roses and the deposition of Henry.  The exterior was not finished until the early 16th century under Henry VII, and the interior wasn't completed until 1544 under Henry VIII.  Both the exterior and the interior of the Chapel are meant to reinforce the royal patronage that helped to build it.  Symbols of the Tudors abound, such as the tudor rose and portcullis and the crown for the king.  There are also a lot of carvings of the greyhound, which was the symbol of Lady Margaret Beaufort (Henry VII's mother and the founder of two other Cambridge colleges, St. John's and Christ's, more on this later).  Finally, on the wooden screen that shields the ante chapel from the chapel proper are the symbols of Henry VIII (the tudor rose) and his wife Anne Boleyn (the falcon).  There are also gorgeous stained glass windows telling stories from the life of Jesus.

The service is a little special for Christmas.  It consists of both "lessons" (i.e., readings from the Bible) and carols.  The college has it's own choir consisting of boys and young men that lead all of the carols and do some of the readings.  The first carol is always "Once in Royal David's City" and the first verse is always a solo.  All of the choir boys learn the solo, and it is only right before the performance that the choir master lets the boy know who is singing.  There are also carols that are commissioned specifically for this service.

As I said, it was pretty amazing (it's actually the reason I decided to stay in town for the holiday) and I'm so glad we did it!  Looking back now (a week later!) it was probably the best thing we did over the break!