It's the luminescent bovine event of the holiday season.

Those clopping sounds emanating from the Cornell Dairy Bar rooftop belong not to reindeer but to Cornell University cows.

And that means just one thing: It's time for the Cornell Dairy Bar's Third Annual Lighting of the Cows ceremony Nov. 30 at noon at the Dairy Bar on Tower Road. Daryl B. Lund, Cornell's Ronald P. Lynch Dean of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Dennis Miller, chair of Cornell's Department of Food Science, will kick off the holiday season by flipping the switch that turns on the cow's lights.

The cows, of course, are large, wooden caricatures of dairy cows pulling a Cornell milk tanker. And, as you pass this rooftop display on Tower Road, you also will hear the melodious jingle-jingle of bells throughout the holiday season.

Celebrants at the ceremony can join in tasting free samples of the season's new and favorite holiday ice cream flavors -- and even go back for seconds. The Cornell Dairy is introducing Triple-Play Chocolate ice cream, packed with fudge and chocolate chunks. Also, the dairy is bringing back a favorite flavor from last year's holiday season, White Mint Christmas, a white-chocolate ice cream awash with a fudge swirl and jammed with holiday mint pieces.