Significance of Festivals

Festivals are a vital part of a Steiner education and around the world Steiner schools place special emphasis on celebrating them.

Festivals are joyous celebrations of life that lift us out of the ordinary and into the mysteries and magic of the rhythm of the seasons. A festival brings to a community the richness of story, song, light and food and celebrates our shared humanity. Each one provides nourishment to the individual soul and brings the community together in a meaningful way.

Festivals are also of special significance for the development of the child. They help the child to increasingly find orientation in time, and they reflect the rhythms of the surrounding natural environment to mark space as well. Establishing a seasonal rhythm gives young children a feeling of place in the world and gives them some sense of the passing of time, which is very abstract for young children. This is increasingly important in our present fast-paced life.

Celebrating festivals brings a sense of rhythm and anticipation, and particularly for young children, this is an important part of their growing up. Children sense the joy and gratitude in the community around them. Festivals foster reverence through the acknowledgement of something greater then themselves, allowing trust to grow and gratitude to be more deeply experienced.

In preschool, we bring this special event to the children in a way that is appropriate to the very young.

During the weeks leading up to the festival, we tell special stories and sing songs about the approaching festival. The excitement builds as we make our invitations to present to our families.
On the day of the festival, families gather to enjoy songs as well as a game or a craft. Our feast table is decorated and ready to receive the kind offerings from each family to share.

This particular festival – the Winter Festival is, at its core, a celebration of light.

The preschool children are aware of the shorter days, of the lengthening of the darkness and the cold arriving. The bright summer light and the softness of autumn faded. We settle inward for winter. There is something so special about being in the dark, something many are afraid of, but here at the festival it is transformed by their own little light – a lantern which we have lovingly crafted in Ruby Saltbush over the past few weeks - and in the company of friends and family.

For us adults, winter is also a season where we can draw inwards into the dark, find the light and from that move outwards and grow anew.

This of course is not explained to the children. Children sense the mood of a season or festival deeply and the lessons it carries for us. We leave them free to experience all of this through activities, songs, story and sensory experience, which is the way the child under seven build pictures and learns of the world. So, this festival is one of quiet wonder, but also of comfort and joy.

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