Christmas choir

Today our Christmas choir from the Well sang in front of St. Katherine's church at the Christmas market before our evening nativity service that would take place inside. This was the most crowded I had ever scene the market and folks continuously streamed past us, which resulted in us handing out nearly all of our flyers advertising the service. We also got some folks to sing along and clap and take home videos (well, we couldn't really help that). Here we are, very close to freezing but having a grand time:

The Well rented out this church (which is Catholic but apparently has a large Russian Orthodox community) for the evening. It is currently exhibiting a collection of Russian icons and paintings. Many people were strolling in to get a look. But our service started at 5:00 and thus we essentially overtook the sanctuary and claimed the space with a giant screen, a keyboard, and some microphones.

At the beginning of the service our tiny choir processed in, a capella, to "Joy to the World," having to literally push our way through groups of people to get to the front. Such a strange experience. We sang a couple more carols before the organist accompanied us on "Hark the Herald." For some reason, we were way off rhythm with the organ and muddled our way through the entire hymn. But I think that was the largest organ, in the largest cathedral, that I have ever sung with in a choir.

The service itself was quite simple, with the children calmly presenting the nativity scene. In the backdrop there was a montage of photos of the same children acting out the story of Jesus' birth. I thought it was very creative. However, I was disappointed with the music they sang because all along there was an under-track of fake synthesized children singing, emanating from the keyboard. I would have preferred to hear their simple voices reverberating throughout the cavernous stucture. But here they are in all their garb:

We did the usual "Silent Night" in several languages and held our lit candles. Afterwards we turned around and found that some of the volunteers had set up a little cafe with free drinks and desserts. The chairs that were normally used for contemplating icons or praying to the saints had been placed around small round tables. Needless to say, I had never seen anything like it previously.

I go home in four days! Looking forward to relaxing a bit, seeing the family and friends, and revelling in all my cultural baggage only to have it challenged and re-evaluated when I return. The one thing I fear more than possible weather problems (which are not forecast at the moment, but you never know) is dealing with jet-lag. I could be pretty miserable for a couple of days at least. Oh well, it is worth it to go home and be rejuvenated.