Waldorf Steiner education places great value on rhythm — daily, weekly, monthly, yearly — as essential in our lives and school activities. Included in the rhythm of the year are gatherings of festivals that hold deep meaning, and also mark the changing of the seasons in the northern hemisphere. Each festival speaks to our own human experience and we are always happy to have our school community join us on these meaningful occasions.
Ultimately, school festivals are joyful, reverent, or solemn gatherings that deepen our experiences of life. Classes come together to share a simple verse or a short story, seasonal songs, and activities. Within the classrooms, festival songs, stories, and verses are included in a morning circle for the students to experience the mood of the time. While there are a number of festivals that are observed within the school year, below are some festivals that we celebrate in simple ways with our school community.
Advent (Mondays in December)
On Advent Mondays, all the students gather together in a large morning circle, sing Advent songs and light an Advent candle. An Advent candle, Advent wreath or Advent Calendar may be present inside a classroom, and an Advent spiral walk may be held in the school or nearby grounds.
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Martinmas (November 11)
St. Martin of Tours has a best-known tale of sharing his cloak with a beggar. The community gathers await sundown and go on a Martinmas lantern walk. From our own inner preparation to the lantern walk, we draw meaning from this festival and we remember to seek our inner light to light our way in times of darkness.
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Michaelmas (September 29)
“Saint Michael,” as he is referred to in the Christian tradition, is represented in the story of St. George, a tale that depicts courage to tame a dragon with the help of St. Michael. A Michaelmas festival upholds a theme of courage in meeting and overcoming one’s obstacles. On a set day, older students prepare a themed “obstacle course” for younger students and an Upper School program.
“Brave and true I will be
Each good deed sets me free
Each kind word makes me strong
I will fight for the right
I will conquer the wrong”
The festival of Michaelmas at the end of September comes at the time of harvest. It happens when the days are shorter and in the long periods of darkness, we strive to strengthen our light within. Among old traditions, special loaves of bread were baked from grains grown that year. Today we may gather samples of grains, fruit, and flowers to celebrate the harvest and bring to mind our gratitude for all that nourishes life.
Old customs may be celebrated in a new way. New customs may be discovered when people begin to celebrate the festivals within the setting of daily life at home. Our children benefit greatly from simple practices and observations inside the home and the changing outer environment. Below are some suggestions for how to enliven the spirit of this festival in our homes:
1. The Festival Table
A simple table setting, no matter how small, decorated by plants in season, fallen leaves, flowers, rocks, and twigs. An image of Michael, his known symbols of sword, shield, or scales. There is a wealth of pictures we can choose from to bring the mood of the season into the home.
2. St. Michael’s Rolls
Put some of the season’s grain harvest onto the Festival Table. Bake bread with the children and shape it into Michael’s nemesis, the dragon. A great activity for little hands and it fills the home with the warmth and aroma of freshly made bread.
3. The Balance
In reviving old customs in Michaelmas celebrations, we should try to stimulate the children’s will to do good. Having scales on the festival table where the children can add different weights taken from nature such as stones, sand, or grain. A pan on one end of the scale is the “good”. This activity can show a child how on one end of the scale becomes heavier and heavier until a good balance
is achieved and the weight of the good trumps the other. Another way they can find their sense of balance in simple games in the playground as they walk on beams or go on the seesaw.
4. Flying Kites
The custom fits perfectly with Michaelmas. Older Children like to fly homemade kites when weather permits. A parent’s help is often necessary here. It is a wonderful childhood experience to fly a kite. This activity is enacted as a symbol of a man holding wayward earthly forces in his hand.
5. The Dragon Underfoot.
Find roots or twigs on your nature walks to depict the dragon on your nature table as a small sculpture. Crafting a hand-sewn doll of Archangel Michael and having him stand on top of the “dragon”. The archetype of darkness being vanquished.
6. Short Plays
What child does not like dressing up in simple costumes made of cloth and playing a role in a play of their own imagining. They can become a prince or princess, a dragon, or a knight. Get inspiration from fairy tales of old. Because the children identify easily and quickly with the roles they play, a careful choice of heroes and heroines will strengthen the impulse to do good and to bring redemption to the world.
These seasonal rituals are just a few magical things we can do to make the festivals come alive in our hearts and in our lives.
*Adapted from Festivals with Children by Brigitte Barz and The Christian Year by Evelyn Frances Capel.
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Rose Ceremony
A heartwarming Rose Ceremony takes place on the first and last week of school. On the first day of school, Class 12 students welcome incoming Class 1 and new students to the school with a rose, in front of a school assembly. At the end of the school year, each Class 1 student presents each graduating Class 12 student with a rose or another flower to say “goodbye” and remind them of their childhood days in the school.
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Feast of St. John (June 24)
This festival celebrates a Christian tradition that marks the day as the Feast of John the Baptist. Accordingly, we look inwardly, as we strive to work on what needs to be transformed, as we journey over the succeeding months. The day is celebrated with activities that involve elements of fire or water (or both) for their associations with transformation and purification.
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A St. John’s Walk
“For adults, St. John’s Tide is a time of inner struggle, of striving for virtue. In raising children we are also concerned with developing certain virtues. Among these belong: wonder, reverence, and gratitude.
A Sunday walk along the ripe fields of grain, with skylarks singing high in the air above, can help us lead the child into a healthy devotional mood, into a quiet atmosphere of warm, deep thankfulness for the gifts of nature. It is of course, absolutely necessary for the parents themselves to develop this mood of soul; only then can it be imitated by the children. A verse by Rudolf Steiner for children expresses the atmosphere of a St John’s Tide walk:
Sunlight is flooding
The widths of space
The song of the birds echoes
Through the realms of the air
The blessing of plants sprouts
From the being of earth
And human souls lift themselves
In feelings of thankfulness
To the Spirits of the World.”
Excerpt from Festivals with Children written by Brigitte Barz
Christmas Festival (December 20)
The whole community gathers at sundown for a traditional shepherd’s play or tableaux of a live nativity scene, solemn readings from scripture, alive Christmas tree, and community singing of Christmas carols.
