Peace Lutheran Church, 737 Barracksview Road, will present its 19th annual Boar’s Head Christmas Festival in December in the church chancel.

The Boar’s Head Christmas Festival will be presented at 7:30 p.m. from Thursday, Dec. 5, through Sunday, Dec. 8.

The festival also will be presented at 4 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 8.

Beginning Friday, Nov. 1, tickets will be offered free to the public on a first-come basis.

Tickets can be obtained by calling the church office at (314) 892-5610.

The pageant includes four choirs, various instrumentalists and a costumed cast of children and adults, most of whom are members of Peace Lutheran Church.

Preservice music will begin 30 minutes before each service, this year featuring the church’s own Brass Choir.

Through the festival, Peace Lutheran offers the community a peek into Christmas past with a message as real today as it was then, according to a news release. It presents one of Christianity’s oldest Christmas traditions, the Boar’s Head Christmas Festival, the release stated.

As the pageant opens amid carols and other period music, a Yule sprite appears ushering in the celebration with a “Christ Candle” lit to symbolize Christ bringing light to a darkened world.

Before the procession of lords and ladies, dancers, musicians, swordsmen and servants, the boar’s head is presented to King Wenceslas, symbolizing the defeat of evil, an analogy of the Savior who ultimately conquers evil. After the merriment of the court scene, the Christmas story is presented without dialogue, complete with shepherds and wise men following the star to the holy family.

Additional information about the festival can be found by clicking on the Boar’s Head tab at

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This year’s presentation will be the last in the current chancel as Peace is in the process of building a new sanctuary that will be ready for the 20th anniversary of the Boar’s Head Christmas Festival.

In April, the church broke ground for the new sanctuary, estimated to cost $5.5 million.

The structure, with ecclesiastical symmetry, theater seating and a 37-rank organ, is intended to offer parishioners a sense of majesty and reverence while at worship.