For many people over the years, the celebration of the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany season has begun with the annual St. Olaf Christmas Festival, a cherished tradition of the college for nearly a century. The first festival, in 1912, was a worship service in song for the college community, planned and directed by F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf, a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.. Performing both as individual groups and as a massed ensemble are: The St. Olaf Choir, directed by Christopher Aspaas; The St. Olaf Cantorei, directed by John Ferguson; the Manitou Singers, directed by Sigrid Johnson; and the St. Olaf Orchestra, directed by Steven Amundson.