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Here's when you can get Boar's Head fest tickets

Posted at 2:27 PM, Dec 01, 2015
and last updated 2015-12-01 14:27:08-05

CINCINNATI – Organizers of the Boar’s Head and Yule Log Festival have announced they will distribute free tickets Dec. 12 to the 76th annual Christmas pageant at Christ Church Cathedral.

Volunteers will give away two tickets per person from 8:30 to 10 a.m. Dec. 12 at the cathedral, located at 318 E. Fourth St., Downtown. The festival, billed as the oldest celebration of the Christmas season in the world, will take place at 5 p.m. Jan. 2, and 2:30 and 5 p.m. Jan. 3 at the church.

Related: Holiday events guide: 30 ways to celebrate the season

Cincinnatians first celebrated the Boar’s Head pageant in 1940 on its 600th anniversary, according to the festival’s website. The pageant, which retells the miracle of Christ's birth, began at Queens College in Oxford, England, in 1340, then migrated to colonial America via French protestants and eventually to Cincinnati via the Christ Church.

In festival lore, the boar is considered a wild beast that represents evil. In English tradition, the “presentation of a boar’s head to the lord of the manor at Christmas signified the victory of the Christ Child over evil.” The Yule log, in turn, represents the rekindling of love, a gift from the Christ child in the new year.

For more information about the festival call 513-621-BOAR (2627) or go to www.boarsheadfestival.com.