Festivals and Celebrations at SWS

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.

Michaelmas

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.

Lantern Walk

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.

Santa Lucia Day

Throughout Sweden, the eldest daughter in each household comes to her sleeping parents, dressed in a long white gown tied with a red sash, and wearing a crown of lingonberry leaves in which are set seven lighted candies. In her hands she carries a tray of steaming hot coffee and “Lussekattor” (Lucia Buns). The procession includes her sisters and brothers also dressed in white, holding lighted candles, and singing of the light and joy of Christmas. Scandinavian tradition holds that in Värmland, Sweden, a white-clad maiden, wearing a crown of burning candies, brought food to the starving villagers on the shores of Lake Vänern. No one knows how long ago the tradition began, but it was so far back that the festival of Santa Lucia was marked by a notch on the primitive “primstav” (calendar stick), the precursor of the calendar.

Advent

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.

Spring Parade

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.

Olympiad (Greek Pentathlon)

Each year, our grade five students from regional Waldorf schools meet for Olympiads, the Greek Pentathlon tournament. The impulse for Hands In Peace began in the mid-1980s as Spacial Dynamics® began to develop the Greek Pentathlon tournaments for children aged 10 to 11. The focus of these tournaments is on the harmony and beauty of form, the effective dynamic of the movement, and the potential to increase each child’s own individual level of performance with objective measurement. This way of play creates an enlivening and joyful experience, challenging the children to work towards greater harmony rather than challenging each other.

Medieval Games

In grade six students gather with sixth graders from other Waldorf
schools in the region to experience a taste of Medieval times.

Renaissance Faire

A regional gathering for seventh graders as part
of their history studies.

May Faire

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.