The exciting carols season is upon us.
For the Anglican faithful, Sunday was the perfect way to get into the mood for the upcoming Christmas season, when Christians the world over commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ.
The St Paul’s cathedral, Namirembe choir performed their annual Advent carols in ceaseless fashion to a huge gathering at the cathedral. It was a blend of English and Luganda and featured traditional carols such as Boris Ord’s Adam Lay Bounden, classic anthems including John Stainer’s How Beautiful Upon The Mountains as well as a catalogue of hymns.
There were hardly any lapses in the one-hour service that left the audience itching for more. Advent Sunday is the last of the season’s four-week period before Christmas and in many ways serves as a prelude to this Sunday’s coveted ‘Carols by Candlelight’ by the same choir at the cathedral.
The ‘Carols by Candlelight’ event is the choir’s annual masterpiece, characterised by the cathedral being plunged in cosy darkness, only to be lit up by glowing candles.
The two-hour showcase by the traditionally all-male choir starts at 6pm. Ordinarily, Advent carols serve to intensify the expectation of the festive season.
So, Advent carols are dedicated to gearing up for the birth of our saviour Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Christmas carols are purely dedicated to Jesus’s coming to save the world.