From: darsie@eecs.ucdavis.edu (Richard Darsie)
Newsgroups: misc.education
Subject: Waldorf Education: Festivals
Date: 2 Oct 92 22:17:17 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of California, Davis

This is the third in my series of posts on Waldorf Education.
Anyone with further interest can email me to find more or
just to chat.

                         WALDORF SCHOOL: Festivals

Religion
	DWS, like other Waldorf schools, does not seek to teach a particular 
religious view.  Students from a wide range of religious, ethnic, and cultural 
backgrounds are welcomed at DWS, and the differences are respected.  Seasonal 
festivals of Christianity are observed in the classroom and at school 
assemblies.  The curriculum itself, through the Old Testament studies, Norse, 
Indian, Egyptian, Roman, and Greek mythologies provides many opportunities to 
share other religious traditions in the classroom.
	We would like to acknowledge and share other religious customs and 
celebrations enjoyed by our families.  If you are interested in celebrating 
special holidays within your child's classroom, we encourage you to give 
suggestions to your child's teacher.  Parent participation helps to make these 
festivals meaningful and special.  Parents are welcome to keep their children 
home in observance of their own religious holidays.
	We strive to bring a universal nature to our celebrations of festivals 
through their connection with the rhythms of the earth and cosmos.  We feel 
that the ceremonies and rituals associated with them help reveal the deeper 
significance in many everyday occurrences.  The living rhythms of the year, 
though taken up in each class in different ways, help provide a common 
foundation for the children.  In preparing for the festivals, the faculty 
considers the mood of the season in the celebration.
	Although often associated with narrow religious meanings, the nature of the 
festivals is universal.  The teachers do not seek to explain all this to the 
children, but allow them to take these things quietly into their hearts.
	Children love preparing for the festivals by decorating the room, baking 
special treats, learning special songs, etc.  Nature stories and special tales 
help bring deeper significance of the season to the children in a pictorial 
way.

Michaelmas
	Perhaps the least known of the festivals is Michaelmas, when the sun 
reaches the autumnal equinox (darkening) on September 29.  Saint Michael 
is an archangel mentioned in the Bible, Apocrypha and Koran.  He appears as 
a spiritual figure and protector of humankind, inspiring strength, courage 
and will throughout history.  The motif of a conqueror of the dragon can be 
seen in much Chinese art, in Apollo and the serpent, in Krishna slaying 
demons, and in the familiar story of Saint George and the dragon.
	Michael overcoming the dragon is an image that calls us all to be 
courageous, to take the dragon and hold it at bay.  For each of us has our 
own dragonQfear, greed, thoughtlessness, or apathy.  Michael's qualities of 
courage, compassion, and steadfastness can be an inspiration to us all.
	In school, the children hear stories about the brave knight who 
overpowers the dragon with his sword of light.

Hallowe'en
	All Hallow's Eve, or as it is better known, Halloween, was originally one 
of the four Celtic "cross" festivals, that is, a festival that occurs at times 
between, instead of on, the Solstice or Equinox.  It falls at a time of growing 
darkness, when the shadows are lengthening and the Sun moves down through the 
sky.  At one time celebrated as a yearUs end/beginning, it was thought that at 
this point between two years the veil between the physical world and the 
spiritual world was thinner and that movement between the two was possible.  It 
was a time of purification and guarding against those spirits that would cause 
harm to humanity.  It was also a time to honor those friends and companions 
that had passed on to the other side.  It was thought that by acknowledging 
and honoring the darker side of existence we gain the power to resist within it 
that which is harmful.
	At the Davis Waldorf School, we celebrate Halloween with a blend of the old 
and the new.  We give the children a chance to venture into the world of 
darkness in a way that is both safe and a bit challenging.  For the younger 
child (those under 9 years old), we have the Protected Path, a journey through 
the worlds of Fairy Tales and Far Off Lands led by an angel guide to gather 
treats.  For the older children, the Perilous Path awaits, to be travelled 
alone, with challenges to be overcome and a treasure to be won at the end.  
Our evening ends with all gathered around the bonfire for singing and sharing 
of treats and tales of the wonders seen.

Thanksgiving
	Thanksgiving is a festival which is celebrated in many lands in a variety 
of ways.  Worldwide, human beings who lived close to land have stopped at 
the end of the growing season when the work of the harvest was done, to give 
thanks.  In this country, Thanksgiving tradition-ally hearkens back to the 
end of the first growing season when the Pilgrims came from Europe, and with 
the help of the Native Americans, survived their first year in North America.
	At the school, we have celebrated Thanksgiving as a Harvest Festival.  
Within the cycle of the year, Thanksgiving comes as the last festival which 
expresses the outer light of summer which is reflected in the harvest of 
grains, vegetables, and fruits.  After Thanksgiving we enter the Advent season 
where our attention is drawn to the inner light during the dark cycle of the 
year.

Saint Nicholas' Day
	December 6.  A special visitor may leave some treats in the children's 
shoes if they've behaved well during the year!

Advent
	Advent celebrates a turning point when darker and shorter days become even 
more illuminated by candlelight.  We experience a mood of anticipation, 
preparation and waiting.  In walking the spiral of the Advent Garden, the 
children receive in reverence the light for their own candles.  All of their 
candles together light up the darkness as we sing with full hearts.

Christmas
	At Christmas time, the faculty of the Davis Waldorf School presents "The 
Shepherd's Play" for the children and the community at large.  This medieval 
mystery play comes to us from the island of Oberufer in the Danube River in 
eastern Europe, and dates to the Middle Ages.  "The Shepherd's Play" is 
actually the faculty's gift to the children, and depicts the story of the 
shepherd and the birth of the baby Jesus.

Spring Festivals
	As the days begin to lengthen after midwinter, the sun not only brightens 
the outer world, but lightens our inner selves as well, and Spring approaches.  
New life appears, buds burst into blossom, and the rebirth of life is upon us.  
We have that symbol in the emerging of the butterfly from its chrysalis.  Our 
Easter assembly occurs in the Spring.  We also celebrate May Day with a 
traditional Maypole dance around which the children and parents dance to 
lively music, and celebrate the rebirth of spring.
	And so the rites of spring give way to the sleepy heat of summer.  School 
is dismissed and quickly fades into memory.  A festival families can celebrate 
in mid summer is St. John's tide (June 24), a celebration of the sun and the 
ripening of the earth.
	But, as always, September returns and the cycle begins anew with Michael's 
message:  "Awaken to the coming of winter, and in harvest time rejoice."  Year 
after year, both children and adults gain strength by reconnecting to these 
cycles of nature.  Although modern life tends to corrupt, dilute and forget 
these natural cycles, we have the opportunity to recognize them once more.  
Year in, year out, the community gains strength, finding in the festivals new 
ways of meeting, of celebrating, and of sharing.

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