Each year, the Cathedral plays host to many additional services to mark this most holy time in the Christian calendar. We do hope you can join us to celebrate the season.
For full details about other events and offers over the festive period, please visit our Advent and Christmas What’s On page. Daily service times and musical information is detailed on our Services and Music List.
Sunday 1 December 2024, 5.00 p.m.–6.15 p.m.
Join us for a service of readings, traditional congregational Advent carols, and music for Advent. Please arrive in good time for this extremely popular, un-ticketed service, being seated by 4.45 p.m.
Admission: FREE (no booking required); retiring collection in aid of Wells Cathedral
Monday 23 and Tuesday 24 December 2024, 6.00 p.m.–7.15 p.m.
Join us for two traditional carol services, led by the Cathedral Choir, with congregational carols and readings telling the Christmas story. Please arrive in good time for these extremely popular, un-ticketed services, being seated by 5.45 p.m.
Admission: FREE (no booking required); retiring collection in aid of Wells Cathedral
Tuesday 24 December 2024, 1.15 p.m.–2.00 p.m. / 2.30 p.m.–3.15 p.m.
Perfect for children and families. Children are invited to dress up for this fun service as we play out the Christmas story — come dressed as a shepherd, an angel, a wise man, or even a super hero!
Admission: FREE (no booking required); retiring collection in aid of Wells Cathedral
Tuesday 24 December, 11.00 p.m.– Wednesday 25 December, 12.30 a.m.
Christ is born! As Advent turns to Christmas, join us for this beautiful candlelit celebration in the darkness of Christmas night, with music sung by the Cathedral Choir.
Admission: FREE (no booking required); offertory collection in aid of Wells Cathedral
Wednesday 25 December 2024, 10.30 a.m.–11.45 a.m.
Join us for a festive morning service on Christmas Day, with familiar carols and music sung by the Cathedral Choir. Refreshments will follow to celebrate this joyful occasion!
Admission: FREE (no booking required); offertory collection in aid of Wells Cathedral
Marking the beginning of the Church year, Advent is the four-week season that leads up to Christmas. It marks a season of hope as we await the coming of God.
Advent is often treated as a time to silence the mind, to be still, and to wait in expectation. It is also a ‘penitential’ season, where we acknowledge our need of forgiveness for the pain and divisions of the world, even as we look forward to a new one. Themes that emphasise waiting, confession, and hope culminate in the Advent Carol Service on the evening of Advent Sunday.
Though carols are sung during services throughout Advent, the season of Christmas really begins a few days before Christmas Day. During this time, Wells Cathedral is lit by thousands of candles to celebrate the coming of the child of Bethlehem.
The Cathedral Carol Services are a calendar highlight. Hundreds of people come to the Cathedral to hear carols which herald the coming of God. These services, together with the Eucharist of Christmas Night on Christmas Eve and Cathedral Eucharist on Christmas morning, remind us that the coming of God was, extraordinarily, through the life of a vulnerable child.
This emphasis on ‘The Incarnation’ lies at the heart of Anglican spirituality and is celebrated every day of the year at Choral Evensong. The principal song that is sung at this service is the triumphant hymn of Mary, known as ‘The Magnificat’.
Following the twelve days of Christmas, the Church enters the season of Epiphany, traditionally beginning on 6 January. The Feast of the Epiphany commemorates the visit of the Magi to the Christ child and is a celebration of Christ’s revelation to the world beyond Israel. The Magi’s journey symbolises the calling of all nations to worship Christ, reminding us that the light of God extends to every person and place.
During Epiphany, themes of revelation and mission emerge in the Church’s services. The Gospel readings and hymns echo the manifestation of Jesus’ divine nature, from his baptism in the Jordan River to the miracle at the wedding in Cana. In these events, the Church remembers Jesus as the “light of the world”, fulfilling the promise of God’s salvation.
The season of Christmas lasts for 40 days. It ends with the Feast of Candlemas on 2 February, when a special choral celebration is held at the Cathedral. This service starts by candlelight in the Nave, which is cleared of its chairs, and the congregation then follows the procession into the Quire.
At Candlemas, we remember the infant Christ being presented in the Temple in Jerusalem to Simeon who rejoices that he has seen this child, who will be ‘a light to the nations’. But this feast of Candlemas is bittersweet, for the old man warns the child’s mother of the pain and suffering she is to face because of her Son.
Candlemas is celebrated by the lighting and extinguishing of candles, not only looking backward to the birth of Christ and the joy of Christmas, but also forward to Lent and Easter, as we journey with Christ to his death on the Cross and his Resurrection.
