Candle, Candle Burning Bright

There is a tradition every Michaelmas term at Durham to hold a candlelight processional. It starts out at the south side of the Bailey and walks up (and I do mean up, this is quite a hilly place) to the cathedral. Under the idea of trying everything in Durham at least once, I decided to tag along and was very glad that I did.

(Thank you choir for the scarf! I'm putting it to good use!)

There were easily several hundred people mostly University students on the trek up the path in the dark and into the south side of the cathedral. We were lead through the cloisters into the cathedral where the chaplain welcomed us and told us a little about the cathedral.


We were then free to roam about the cathedral. By candlelight. It was gorgeous. The cathedral was built in the 1100s and is incredibly impressive during the day with soaring ceilings and massive columns, but it was even more amazing with not much light other than candles and moonlight. The cathedral is usually closed after about 6 or 7 in the evenings so it was a rare treat to be allowed in at a late hour, let alone to have so few lights on in the building. I do have to admit, it was a little creepy when the organist started to play since he somehow managed to pick the darkest, creepiest organ music ever written but fortunately it only lasted a couple songs and we were left in silence.


Pictures aren't normally allowed in the cathedral so if you want to see more pictures of the cathedral, here is a link to their website:
http://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/introduction/gallery

Note on Flickr: I have posted 2 videos of college songs. Apparently every college has their own songs they sing often incorporating the name of their college and/or teasing other colleges. I took a couple of videos of the JCR (undergrads) singing college songs at the college bar a couple weeks ago. I will apologize for the terrible quality as it was dark and I was using my digital camera which is not such an awesome video camera.
There are also now a couple of pictures from the candlelight procession but there are not likely to be any more pictures on flickr for another week or 2, I seem to have already reached my limit for the month. In the meantime I will throw in some pictures here on the blog.