New Bedford’s Seamen’s Bethel Hosts Christmas Candlelight Service

There is nothing quite like an old-fashioned, traditional Christmas celebration. Sometimes, the holiday season is too busy and stressful to enjoy. That is, unless you dial it back a bit and make time to relax and take it all in.

How often I have wished I had known of this or that holiday event in advance or made time to partake in some seasonal merriment and not just rush from store to store in search of Christmas gifts.

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This year, I am including some holiday activities in my schedule so that another year doesn't pass by with me wishing I had.

One such event is a concert by the Vienna Boys Choir at the historic Plymouth Memorial Hall in Plymouth in December.

Another event on my holiday schedule is the Christmas Candlelight Service at the Seamen's Bethel on Johnny Cake Hill in the New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park.

Kimberley Aubut, Operations Manager of the New Bedford Port Society, which maintains the Seamen's Bethel and next-door Mariner's Home, says the Christmas Candlelight Service has been an "annual event for the past 50 years or more."

Aubut is unsure how the service began.

"It's been a tradition to celebrate the Sunday before major holidays by inviting the public to the Bethel and celebrating the seamen and their families along with everyone that wants to hear special music before the holiday," she said.

Aubut said they also hold a Thanksgiving service as well.

"The Greater New Bedford Garden Club comes over with boxes and boxes of decorations with a group of their members," she said. "They have a vision of that particular year's theme of decor and they do magic."

"For as long as I can remember, they've come in a few weeks before Christmas and they do a phenomenal job, always," she said.

The Christmas Candlelight Service is Sunday, December 22, 2024 at 4 p.m. The service is non-denominational and is open to the public, free of charge.