By Sarah Normand, Co-chair, Bronxville Christmas Pageant Committee

Dec. 6, 2017:  The annual Bronxville Christmas Pageant, first performed 103 years ago in 1914, will be held on Christmas Eve, Saturday, December 24, at 5:30 pm on the hillside of The Reformed Church of Bronxville on Pondfield Road.

After twenty years at the helm, Susanne Shoemaker is passing the organizing baton to Sara Normand and Ruth Walter, who are co-chairs. 

For more than a century, the Bronxville community has gathered on Christmas Eve for the Bronxville Christmas pageant. Originally staged in 1914 to raise funds for displaced Belgian refugees, the pageant brings together clergy and parishioners from our seven local churches and features readings by local clergy, carols, a brass quartet, tower bells, and an "invisible" choir as Mary, Joseph, the manger angel, shepherds, wise men, angels on high, and live animals reenact the nativity.

The pageant is truly a community effort. Local residents and church members come together to plan and organize the many elements of the pageant, sending out solicitation letters (as the pageant is funded entirely by donations), organizing the sound, lighting, music, and animals, setting up the crèche and Christmas trees, and taking part in the pageant itself. 

During the pageant, “children can watch Mary ride on a live donkey and settle in the manger surrounded by live sheep. Last year, we had the added excitement of a camel for one of the kings to lead, which really was a wonder,” said Ruth Walter.

Solicitation letters will arrive in mailboxes this week, and we are counting once again on the community's generous support. Donations can also be made online at www.reformedchurch.org under the Giving 365 tab.

Finally, we wish to recognize the extraordinary contributions of Betty Hewitt, a devoted friend of the pageant who passed away this year. Betty served as treasurer of the pageant for many years, supervising the mailing of solicitations and carefully logging donations. She also made sure that participants were greeted with hot chocolate and cookies after the pageant. Betty was a source of goodness and light for all of us, and we will hold her in our hearts this Christmas Eve as we come together again.

Pictured here (from top):  Pageant angels from the 2016 pageant (photo by Margaret Conaton) and Betty Hewitt (photo by Adair Wingfield), who served as treasurer of the pageant for many years.

Photos courtesy Sarah Normand