When you’re as cynical as me, romantic comedies are nauseating. Feel-good advertisements are the epitome of marketing manipulation, and heartstrings are something that should be cut, not pulled. But if anything was to come close to melting the icy exterior of my stone-cold heart, it would have to be Christmas.
Dublin in December is a city steeped in festive anticipation, from the procession and turning on of the Christmas lights to the live animal crib at the Mansion House and numerous carol services taking place across the city each day.
The atmosphere in Trinity matches the cheer outside the campus walls. Trinity isn’t short on traditions – some more recent, others tried and tested favourites – but Christmas is when they’re often appreciated more than ever. The lighting of the Christmas tree in Front Square is a relatively new tradition, introduced in 2013 by Provost Patrick Prendergast.
But the popularity of this event has grown exponentially each year, with thousands gathering in Front Square to listen to the Trinity Singers choir and to count down to the switching-on of the Christmas Tree lights.
Manager of the Trinity Catering team, Moira O’Brien, speaking to The University Times, has noticed the increased numbers of the event this year – its busiest year yet – as the team try to meet demand for mince pies and mulled wine. “Every year it seems to increase in popularity – we ordered 3,500 mince pies this year and we’d be getting close to the 4,000 from here on in”, she says.
In line with the Christmas ideals of generosity and kindness, the catering team provides a bucket for donations each year for a charity of their choice, with this year’s proceeds going to help people who are homeless.
The Christmas tree lighting features a festively-donned Trinity Singers choir on the steps of the Postgraduate Reading Room. Speaking to The University Times, Maria McGuinness, Secretary of Trinity Singers, talked of the importance of the Christmas season for the group, which gives them a chance to perform to a much larger audience than they would usually be able to reach.
“The Christmas tree lighting ceremony gives us the opportunity to sing in front of a much larger audience and to hopefully convince a few more people to come our concerts. It always gives me shivers down my spine when the crowd join in with the songs we are singing”, she explains.
Trinity College Singers are a vital part of the college’s festive celebrations and Christmas festivities further beyond the college. The Singers recorded a performance for RTE’s Carols for Christmas alongside the RTE Symphony Orchestra, which airs on RTE 1 on Christmas Eve.
Christmas Commons is another tradition for alumni of the college, who join fellows and scholars in the Dining Hall for this annual event. Attendees attend a drinks reception and Christmas dinner with carols provided by the College Chapel Choir. Run by the Alumni Office, it serves as a homecoming event for many past students who return to attend this reception each year.
The Dining Hall is consistently packed to capacity, with two separate dates for Christmas Commons organised this year to satisfy demand. Moira O’Brien explains why this event is such a special and popular one each year. “There’s a slightly different atmosphere to normal Commons. Because it has the music and people aren’t rushed out, it’s a lot more relaxed. People are in a lot more of a festive mood. It’s a nice tradition, it’s very busy every year when we put dates on, it sells out very, very quickly , and it’s very popular because it marries the traditions of Trinity with what is a nice Christmas event.”
A more traditional, faith-based event takes place every year in the College Chapel, but is open to all members of the Trinity community, religious and nonreligious alike. The Trinity Service of Carols is organised by the College chaplains, with singing from the College Choir. The setting and music in this event means that it consistently draws in a crowd that packs the venue to full capacity, with invitations to students this year telling them to arrive early in order to ensure a seat.
Speaking to The University Times, Fr Peter Sexton, of the Trinity Chaplaincy, said the carol service, which took place on Monday December 11th, is the “biggest liturgical event” of the Christmas calendar.
There once was, however, a Christmas Eve mass in Trinity. But changes across the decades have taken a toll on the chapel: low attendance and fewer residents on campus mean there’s no real demand for a service on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Day, the college chaplains of every faith will scatter to their own communities.
Despite these numerous traditions, for many staff members, Christmas is a time to take advantage of the slower pace and quieter atmosphere in order to complete more research or finish writing a book. Prof Jane Ohlmeyer, Professor of Modern History and Director of the Trinity Long Room Hub, explains that “when college closes, the emails stop, so you really can focus on research. And it’s one of the very precious times, apart from the summer, when academics really can get stuff done”.
But such pressure to research and work over the festive season wasn’t always present among the staff in Trinity. The 1699 Bursars’ accounts bill shows the expenses for a Christmas dinner that catered for over 100 staff and students of the College that year, with Trinity funds spent on turkey, bacon sprouts and “mince pyes”, newly introduced after being derived from the larger “great Christmas pye”.
Many of the more traditional elements of Trinity’s Christmas celebrations are mirrored by other old universities around the world. Balliol College, Oxford, hosts “Nepotists” carols on the last Friday of first term, a night of mulled wine and carol singing in the college hall. The tradition began in the 1940s, when a disgruntled undergraduate formed The Nepotists after failing to achieve a position on another college society committee, and began as invitation-only, before becoming a college-wide event.
King’s College Chapel, Cambridge has hosted a highly-acclaimed carol service since 1918. It was first broadcasted in 1928 and since then has become a staple part of Christmas for many people, and people have been known to queue for days in order to ensure their place at the event.
Universities closer to home also promote the Christmas spirit in inventive ways. NUI Galway has a “Christmas Day” for students each year in mid-November, with lectures and college work postponed for a day as students celebrate their own mini-Christmas with their friends, turkey, mulled wine and festive jumpers.
The lack of a similar event in Trinity does nothing to deter the many Trinity students who celebrate Christmas with their friends in the last few weeks of term each year. Despite the declining levels of church attendance, the appetite for Christmas prevails, both among Trinity students and further afield.
It’s clear that the festive events in College have less and less to do with religious celebration, and more to do with catching up, meeting friends and celebrating Christmas together. Trinity’s traditions might be grand and fancy – some might say exclusive – but at heart it’s all about a college community getting together. And what could be more Christmassy than that?
