A HUGE crowd attended the annual Festival of Carols and Culture in Nine Languages with Nine Lessons on the weekend.
Held at the Christ Church Anglican Church, around 250 people celebrated in person with an estimated audience of more than 500 watching the service via live streaming.
This event is a variation to the traditional nine readings and carols held before Christmas every year.
It includes Christmas related carols and songs performed by members of different cultures living in Mount Gambier as well as the traditional nine Bible readings relating to the birth of Jesus.
City of Mount Gambier mayor Lynette Martin and member for barker Tony Pasin were both in attendance and gave readings.
Some of the readings were given by local ministers representing different denominations and Dr Michael Nashed read representing the Coptic Church and community.
The readings were accompanied by the church children re-enacting the Christmas story complete with costumes and multiple changes.
A variety of groups sang Christmas carols or songs, including those representing different cultures.
St Martin’s College, Phoenix, the Last Choir and the Sri Lankan, Indian, African including South African and German communities were amongst the groups.
A candle for peace was lit by Church children at the beginning of the service and prayers for peace in today’s troubled world were offered.
Ms Martin was delighted to receive $603 from the collection taken for the Mayor’s Christmas Appeal.
She told the congregation that many families were experiencing financial stress and that her Christmas Appeal aimed to make this time of year happier for these families.
Father Neil Fernando was very pleased with the success of the evening and hoped to add more cultures to the service in future years as Mount Gambier continued to become more culturally diverse.
