A tradition since 1973, CHRISTMAS IN CHRIST CHAPEL AT GUSTAVUS is a time for the Gustavus Adolphus College community in St. Peter, Minnesota to celebrate the holidays with one another. More than 300 students, faculty, and staff bring the program to life each year through the use of music, dance, spoken word, and the visual arts. The theme for the concert, which comes from creative director Brian Konkol, a former South African resident, is "Ubuntu, Jesu: From the Cradle of Humankind to the Ends of the Earth." "Ubuntu" is an African concept that affirms the interdependence of humanity. While popularized by Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu and former South African President Nelson Mandela during the anti-apartheid struggle in South Africa, the concept of Ubuntu has numerous variations in a wide range of African linguistic expressions. The Ubuntu relationship of individual and community can be observed in the baobab tree, considered sacred across the continent of Africa - tall, majestic, strong and imposing; much like the spirit that holds the human community together in all its diversity. The performance, which takes place under a symbolic and sacred baobab tree, contains artistic choices grounded in the African continent, and celebrates unity by connecting the incarnation of Christ with the creation of humankind in Africa.
