Winter Solstice – Festivals of Light
Many cultures celebrate the coming winter months with a festival of light. In Christian cultures, this holiday is Advent.
Advent is the time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas. The Advent season is revered from its beginning, the last Sunday of November, until Christmas day with four Sundays.
The festival of light is recognized by many cultures with different celebrations. The ancient Egyptians celebrated the festival of Osiris; the Celts and Druids held great festivals of light and fire; and the Jews celebrate Hanukkah, the festival of lights.
Advent Celebration
In Waldorf schools this time is lived with great intensity. There are several rituals or proceedings in the Advent celebration. Generally there are different items that are added to the classroom such as a wreath, the nature table with a blue cloth, angels and a manger.
Advent wreath
On the teacher’s table or the seasonal table, the Advent wreath with 4 candles is prepared. Every Sunday a candle is lit (at home), and at school a new one is lit every Monday. The candle will be lit every day during the first week with a poem and Christmas carols as part of the rhythm for the beginning of the day. Next Monday a second candle is lit, and then a third, until the week of Christmas where all four candles are lit. During the lighting of the Advent candles, the stories of the angels are a good way to bring the elements to the nature table.
Nature Table
The station table is changed on the first week of Advent. A blue cloth is placed on the wall and another on the table below representing a country scene. At one end of the table Mary is placed, behind Saint Joseph and the donkey, who each day advance a little towards the manger. At the opposite end, the place of the stable will be prepared, and a beautiful stone can be laid in the place that the baby will later occupy.
Angels Stories
The stories of the angels could also be told during each week. The blue angel is the story told the first week and a blue angel is also hung at the nativity scene and the children are told the story of the blue angel. The blue angel represents the mineral kingdom. In that first week only stones are placed on the nativity scene.
The following week, the red angel is hung and the story of the red angel is told; this angel represents plant kingdom. Some plants are laid on the nativity scene, such as: mosses, small bushes, leaves…
The following week, the white angel is hung and the story of the white angel is told; It represents the animal kingdom. In that week the animals will appear: sheep, ducklings, horses…
Before going on winter break, the purple angel appears and we tell the story of the purple angel. This angel represents the humans. In the nativity, the shepherds appear.
Manger
On the last day of class, Mary, Joseph and the donkey have already arrived at the portal. The child is laying in the crib. All the items added slowly during these past weeks are beautifully decorating the manger.
During this time, the teacher tells the story of the birth of Jesus. A small celebration follows singing Christmas carols, which is a ceremony that the children enjoy. And so is the lighting of the four candles in the wreath.
Advent Calendar
In the classroom there is usually an Advent calendar with little windows. It could be simple, made with cloth or with paper. Every day a child opens the little window and receives a small gift. This gift can be anything the teacher has prepared. Some examples are: a small stone or precious crystal, a dry fruit or seed, a small animal modeled in wax, a bright star to hang.
Advent Spiral
The Advent Spiral is a tradition that takes place usually in the first week of Advent. Preferably it is prepared and then removed without the children seeing it. Preferably the room would be dark to create the right scene of reverence and for the candles to light brightly.
With fir leaves or branches a large spiral is made on the ground. Many golden stars will be placed for the candles. At the end of it, in the center there will be a lighted candle on a base.
On a separate table, the candles are placed in a red apple that acts as a candlestick.
Advent songs or Christmas carols are sung while the spiral is being walked. An instrument could also be played, such as a lyre, guitar or flute.
Before going through the spiral, the teacher can tell a little story. Example:
”Christmas will soon arrive and like Mary and Joseph we are going to walk the path to light our candle. It will accompany us every night before we go to sleep.”
All the children will be seated and silent around the spiral, but separated from it, so that there is enough space to make the spiral walk.
The teacher enters first and arrives very calmly to the center and lights a candle. After the teacher places it on the first star and slowly returns. Each child will do the same.
Along the spiral, gold stars border it. Each child will bring a candle, light it and lay a lighted candle on top of a star.
This is a symbol of offering the best of ourselves in the service of others, making our light shine.
As we are in the darkest days during this time, the season of Advent invites us to turn on our inner light. It calls for us to find our silence where we can find strength and peace, and to share our light.
Inner Quiet
Quiet I bear within me,
I bear within myself
Forces to make me strong.
Now will I be imbued with their glowing warmth.
Now will I fill myself
With my own will’s resolve.
And I will feel the quiet
Pouring through all my being
When by my steadfast striving
I become strong
To find within myself the source of strength
The strength of inner quiet.
-Rudolf Steiner