Congregations in Harvard come together for Christmas pageant

By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press

HARVARD – Religious congregations and townspeople gathered for a decades-old Christmas tradition, Dec. 10.
Children and teenagers presented the annual pageant and carols in the Harvard Unitarian Universalist Church where, apparently, the tradition started. Also participating were Holy Trinity Parish and The Congregational Church of Harvard.  
“Everybody’s sitting peacefully together,” said Janice Kennedy, a member of Holy Trinity, and pageant chairwoman with Heidi Wharton of the Congregational church. “It’s a beautiful moment to remember what Christmas is about.” 
Dr. Kennedy, a pediatrician, said children want to participate. For two years, COVID interrupted the pageant, which was resumed last year.  
“I just don’t want this tradition to die,” she said.
Rachael “Teddy” Coffin, 92, of the Unitarian Universalist congregation, recalled the tradition’s origins. She said her church used to have a pageant of its own. But, after some members of the congregation broke away and met in homes instead, there were few people to participate. (Mrs. Coffin didn’t recall what caused the split.) 
“The last I remember is when my daughter [born in 1968] was 4 and she was the only angel,” Mrs. Coffin said. People laughed to see just one member of the “heavenly host.” 
Given the low numbers, in the mid-1970s she and fellow  member Anne-Marie Arnold, who grew up in the Lutheran church, got the other religious congregations involved, she said. 
“Anne-Marie and I both thought it should be ecumenical anyhow,” she said. 
“The idea in Harvard was to bring the three churches together,” said Mrs. Arnold’s son, Timothy Arnold. He said his mother, now deceased, was a Lutheran in her native Norway, and she and his father joined what is now the Unitarian Universalist congregation when settling in Harvard.
“‘Make it your own’ was her mantra when she came to the U.S.,” he said. “Make a home of it. Get involved.” He recalled her saying that she didn’t see why the churches couldn’t come together for the pageant, with a children’s choir she directed, “bringing the [Christmas] story to life through music.” 
(Unitarian Universalists don’t subscribe to a single creed so some “believe in a God” but others don’t, according to the Harvard Unitarian Universalist website, uuharvard.org.)
 
Lisa Blair, of Holy Trinity, said, until last year, she was the Catholics’ pageant representative for years. She recruited children and kept families involved. 
She called the pageant “one of the sweetest things that goes on at Christmas” and said she loved working with Dr. Kennedy, who “cares so much,” and with the other leaders.
“I think that everybody that participated wanted to be there,” she said. “I just admire Janice for keeping it going.” 
“Every church has its responsibility,” Dr. Kennedy said. But, “you don’t have to be part of one of the faith communities to participate.” All three churches are used for rehearsals, and teenagers from each church get a shot at the major roles – Mary, Joseph and the herald who leads them to Bethlehem. Actors don’t have lines but move through the church as the narrator reads Scripture passages and the choir sings. Younger children play animals, townspeople, angels, shepherds and kings. 
“We have always used a real baby,” Dr. Kennedy said. “We try to get one that’s not big enough to get up and run away.” 
But this year’s baby Jesus, 4-month-old Tessa Taranto from the Congregational Church, found another way to get out of her role. 
Her fellow church member Adelle Besse, 15, who played Mary, described the unscripted scene in the Dec. 10 show: “I got really nervous when the baby started grabbing my hair and crying.”
Tessa’s mother, Michaela Taranto, rescued them, and Adelle continued with a doll. 
“We love the pageant,” Mrs. Taranto said; Miles, her 4-year-old, played baby Jesus in 2019, and her other children have also participated.
“My kids all went through this,” said Eleanor Toth, of the Unitarian Universalist congregation, who for years taught the harpsichordists playing in the production. 
What does the event mean to her?
“A lot,” she replied. “It’s a wonderful tradition – a gift from the Harvard children to the community.”
“I think it’s really a welcome to people who come here … to welcome them into the community … the whole town,” said Skylar Van Cleef, 11, who played a king and said she is not part of any church. “I think people really enjoy watching us act.”
She said she might like to sing in the choir next year.
“As kids, it’s just about having a good time with friends and your family,” said Mrs. Kennedy’s daughter Deirdre Kennedy, 26, who helped out this year. 
Her mother said high schoolers working behind the scenes with adults “play critical roles” in executing the event; one even videotaped it so senior citizens could watch it on Harvard Cable TV. Two college students even returned and sang with the choir, she said.
Theodore Johnson, of the Unitarian Universalist congregation, played the organ for the pageant – as he has done for about 18 years.
“I’ve seen two or three generations” in the pageant and choir, he said. “It’s exciting. I just think that the Christmas music is so touching. People can remember it from childhood … Sunday school classes.”
“I taught the angels the ballet dance,” said Mrs. Kennedy’s daughter Bridget Kennedy, 22. “It was lots of fun working with them. … They were very excited to do it.” 
People like the production, which has the same format, Scripture readings and carols each year, Dr. Kennedy said.
“Everybody can say … ‘Oh, we know what Christmas is about,’” she said. But with this pageant, “you’re experiencing it close up in a quiet, peaceful way with the hymns.”