So what is the Boar’s Head Feast?

An excerpt from “Encyclopedia of Christmas & New Year’s Celebrations, 2nd Edition” by Tanya Gulevich

The denizens of Queen’s College invented an amusing story by way of offering an explanation for their traditional Christmas dinner.

On a winter’s day hundreds of years ago a student named Copcot went walking in the nearby Shotover woods. He carried with him a volume of Aristotle, which he had been striving in vain to comprehend.

Suddenly a boar sprang out of the underbrush and charged toward him. Copcot thrust the book down the boar’s throat, crying out in Latin, “Graecum est!” (approximately, “it’s Greek to me!”). The boar choked to death on this undigestible work.

Since Copcot could ill afford to lose a book, he chopped off the boar’s head, retrieved his Aristotle, and carried both back to the college. The college feasted on Copcot’s trophy, and a tradition was born.

The Boar’s Head Carol

A special thank-you to The Gregg Smith Singers for their wonderful rendition of The Boar’s Head Carol on YouTube!

The boar’s head in hand bear I,
Bedeck’d with bays and rosemary.
And I pray you, my masters, be merry,
Quot estis in convivio,
Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino!

The boar’s head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land,
Which thus bedeck’d with a gay garland,
Let us servire cantico,
Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino!

Our steward hath provided this
In honor of the King of bliss
Which, on this day to be served is
In reginensi atrio,
Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino!

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Our hearty thanks to all ye who have sponsored the event. The Boar’s Head Feast would not be possible without your generous contributions.

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