WALDORF EDUCATION
Festivals
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Throughout history, in all civilizations, there are celebrations reflecting nature's rhythms. At Seattle Waldorf School we celebrate these festivals to sustain and renew ourselves. Annual seasonal festivals of nature and humanity are celebrated in ways that foster wonder, reverence and gratitude and that nourish the future capacity to respond; to be responsible for and among the human community. Teachers, parents and children work together in anticipation and celebration to express the unique character and variety of major and minor festivals appropriate to the child's age and curriculum.
In the autumn, at harvest season, we celebrate Michaelmas. In Celtic tradition, Michael represents the unconquered hero, fighting against evil and the powers of darkness. He is a model for valor and courage. Dragons, irons and the color red predominate. We celebrate with an array of harvest fruits and dragon bread, physical challenges for the children, and the telling of legend and myth.
The younger children each make their own lantern, and we gather in early November. Walking and singing with glimmering lanterns held high, we carry light into the approaching darkness of winter.
A Grade 2 curriculum celebration, with a parade through the school, honoring Santa Lucia.
With quiet anticipation we enter into the advent season. The younger children take a candlelit journey inward at the Advent Garden. One at a time, each child walks through the spiral of evergreens to the center of the garden, lights a candle, then places it somewhere on the returning path and picks up a gold star, reminding us of the dark journey ahead. Weekly assemblies and daily classroom experiences prepare the children, younger and older, for the wintery nights.
The kindergarten children strip branches, tie them into cross shapes, and weave them with colored yarn and ribbons. With banners aloft, the children parade to a park, where hot chocolate and hot-crossed buns await. After singing circle songs to welcome the Spring, the children return to school to be greeted by Mother Earth, who distributes presents of eggshells planted with seeds. Grade school children are made aware of the new life in spring and the rebirth of the earth, through nature around them.
A gathering of regional Waldorf 5th grade students, this curriculum event is in the tradition of the ancient Greeks.
May Faire is an ancient festival welcoming spring. We raise the maypole, bedecked with fresh flowers and ribbons. The children make and wear floral wreaths and celebrate the arrival of spring by dancing and singing. Traditional maypole dances and other offerings are presented by each class. A barbeque and live music adds to the gaiety of the day.
View 2008 May Faire flyer.
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