Otpust for Pokrov

I've really refrained from writing about things church-related, because I go to the liturgy in Church Slavonic and am highly conflicted about it. But this morning, due to the otpust (which has a completely different meaning here than the way we use it in America) because of Pokrov, when I walked upstairs to where I sit in the cathedral, there was a choir, 4 parts kicking it old school prostopinije, with a female director. Excellent. Afterwards, a procession around the cathedral with banners, portable loudspeakers, and four more gospel readings. The end in front of the cathedral was enough to stop quite a few passers by.