The Bracebridge Dinner
A dinner and pageant that are a Yosemite tradition
A coyote skitters along North Side Drive in Yosemite Village. Only a few vehicles motor along the national park’s byways as late fall takes over this premier U.S. natural wonder. A cool wind rustles the roadside canopy of pines, Douglas firs and sequoia trees. It chills the quiet valley floor, patched like a quilt with blankets of snow here and there.
A remarkable peace has descended, proclaiming a great time to visit Yosemite National Park. At this time of year, a visitor bends an ear to the trumpets and hails the handbell chimes for the Bracebridge Dinner, an elaborate and unique holiday event. It is held in the stately Ahwahnee Hotel’s main dining room.
For many years, it was nearly impossible to obtain tickets to this elegant, three-hour dinner and pageant that recreates a traditional 18th-century Christmas feast, complete with classic carols, period music, operatic-style singing, comedic skits (with some audience participation) and a hearty seven-course meal.
The evening, which for many is a once-in-alifetime event, is a dressy affair. Many men wear a tuxedo or dark suit, women an elegant party gown.
The dinner is based on Washington Irving’s 1820 story “The Sketch Book,” about Christmas Day at Bracebridge Hall in Yorkshire, England. It started shortly after the Ahwahnee Hotel opened in 1927.
Soon afterward, famed photographer and Shakespeare buff Ansel Adams rewrote the original program. To this day, the performance remains true to his score of carols, Renaissance rituals and music reminiscent of the Middle Ages. Adams was an early dinner performer, too.
During Bracebridge season, the Ahwahnee dining room is called the Great Hall. An alcove at one end is the setting for the head table for Squire Bracebridge, his “family and close friends,” more than 100 players in period clothing, including the Lord of Misrule, the Minstrel, the Housekeeper and a band of starving villagers.
The talent pool of performers includes professional singers, some of whom have performed with Bay Area opera troupes. The event’s festive atmosphere is synchronized, with musical flourishes, to the arrival of each of the dinner’s seven courses, given names such as “The Relish and the Fish,” “The Boar’s Head” and “Peacock Pie.”
After the wassail bowl and flaming pudding have been removed from the tables and the feast ends, the Squire and his family leave the hall, greeting guests as they walk away from the dinner.