A Christmas Special filmed in towns and hamlets the length and breadth of Aroostook County will air four times over the holidays on December 17 and 23-25 on Maine PBS.
“Christmas Greetings From Aroostook” began with a simple idea: to show how folks in The County celebrate an old fashioned Yuletide with family, feasting and faith as their focus.
“I had moved to The County from London,” said film maker Brenda Jepson, who married the son of a potato farmer in New Sweden. “And I could not believe what an old fashioned Christmas it was – truly charming.”
So Jepson and her husband, both Mainers of Swedish descent, set out to capture the many ways Aroostook residents make their own fun during the holidays including ethnic cooking, homemade Christmas tree decorations and an early morning church service.
“What was really fascinating was how the ethnic origins of County folk was on display — from tourtiere in The Valley, a traditional spiced pork pie served on Christmas Eve, to Lucia Buns made with saffron and currants in Maine Swedish Colony,” said Jepson.
These and other exciting discoveries are depicted in the show, including a harp concert in Houlton performed on harps locally made by Jay Witcher, a retired NASA Space engineer.
“It seems that others who have seen the show were as amazed as we were by how The County celebrates Christmas,” said Jepson “because after 17 years, the show still resonates with audiences and Maine PBS shows the film every year.”
The half hour show is narrated by Layne Longfellow, relative of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and it is his famous poem “I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day” that is Jepson’s favorite scene in the film.
“Alan and I filmed churches from Amity to Fort Kent, recording their church bells, and this provided the backdrop for Longfellow’s beautiful poem, whose message of peace on earth is still true today,” Jepson said.
A video preview is available at https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/195477717.
