What is the Winter Garden or Advent Spiral in a Waldorf School? November 29 2021

Garden of Light
In a Winter Garden,
Dark the Earth below,
Earth is waiting, waiting, waiting
For her seeds to grow.

Many young children are afraid of the dark.  Actually, many grown ups are afraid of the dark too.  Late autumn and early winter, when the days grow short and the darkness dominates everything, festivals help mark the time until the light begins to fill the days again.

First there is Michaelmas or The Feast of St. Michael: This is at Autumn equinox when day is exactly as long as night. The stories at this time help us gather courage. This courage serves us when Halloween comes and the earth breathes out its last of the year’s efforts of growth and the harvest is done. The quiet is absolute and scary! Death is apparent in all the fields. The day of the Dead in Latin cultures is at this time. Next is followed, in the United States, with Thanksgiving. Our hearts relax and experience gratitude when we realize the abundance of the harvest and the good fortune we have to be alive. Gathering with family and close friends to prepare for the winter season gives us comfort.

During the month of December, the days grow their darkest. In Waldorf schools, just after Thanksgiving, there is a celebration called the Winter Garden, or the Advent Garden.  Advent means “To Come” and aside from this term used in some religious celebrations, it is meant to announce the coming of the light.

Karl König, anthroposophical doctor in the early part of the twentieth century, invented this celebration for Camphill Villages, to give community members a way to picture the need for light in the darkness, a way to anticipate mindfully the return of the light.  Many cultures and religions have celebrations at this December time of year: Hanukkah, Christmas, and Druid Solstice ceremonies to name a few..

For the Advent Spiral or Winter Garden, children come into a darkened room filled with a spiral of evergreens on the floor. Teachers carefully prepare this spiral of living greens. The evergreens make a path for children to walk in a spiral to the center. The evergreen spiral is dotted with crystals, flowering plants, and other treasures. In the center of the spiral is a candle. Into the dark room comes one child carrying a lighted taper. Often this child is dressed in white like an angel. Walking slowly around the spiral to show the watching children how to do it slowly and mindfully, the "angel" then lights the candle waiting at the center of the spiral.

Then, one by one each child goes to the start of the spiral, receives from a teacher an apple with a candle inserted into a carved hole in the apple.  The child walks the spiral with the unlit candle, goes to the center and lights the candle on the central candle that was lighted by the “angel” of the Winter Garden, the first child.  Once the candle is lit, the child walks carefully back through the spiral and finds a place on the spiral to set the apple with the now-lit candle down. Then the next child comes and does the same thing. Each child has a turn until all the children have had the chance to light a candle and place it on the spiral. Music plays and fills the room while the children walk the garden and light their candles one by one.

By the end of the ceremony, the spiral is bright with light, illuminated with all the children’s candles. This offers the children a powerful picture of light in the darkness, of one’s candle contributing to the great light with others in the dark world, of the coming of light from each of us.  It offers a reminder of the reliable turning of the sun from weakness to strength each year at the Winter Solstice. Waiting quietly in the darkness for the return of the light, contributing a little bit from each person to make the world bright, are important lessons to learn for life.

Few words and powerful pictures offer the best kind of learning.

Buy Nothing Day 2021 November 25 2021

Buy Nothing Friday is upon us once again!

While you let the rest of the world carry on with the frenzy on Black Friday, YOU CAN JOIN US IN RELAXING!

Thanksgiving November 25 2021

Thanksgiving is a beautiful word and a more beautiful action. In Spanish the name of this significant day is el Día de Acción de Gracias. This suggests more completely that giving thanks is a verb not a noun or simply a day or a thing. Thanksgiving is the verb; gratitude is the graceful noun!

The Waldorf Lantern Walk around the time of Martinmas November 18 2021

Many Waldorf schools host a Lantern Walk in November and around Martinmas, the feast day for St. Martin of Tours — also Veterans’ Day in the United States. St. Martin, the patron saint of beggars and outcasts, was known for his unassuming nature and ability to bring light and warmth to the impoverished.

Today Only! 50% Off* "Traditions: Integrating the Days of Awe and Chanukah into the Waldorf Grades Curriculum" November 14 2021

Chanukah comes early this year! November 28 is the first night. The calendar sets it gracefully far ahead of Christmas — less bustle and more quiet anticipation! Here’s your best chance to (re) discover all the inspiration of Chanukah: courage, reverence, dedication, and light — all included!

Saint Martin of Tours and Martinmas November 10 2021

The feast of St. Martin coincides with Veterans' Day which is fitting since St. Martin of Tours started as a conscripted soldier in the Roman army and quickly rose to a leadership position. Legend has it that St. Martin was much beloved by the soldiers he commanded for he tended to ride behind his men to ensure that no

Perfect Gift Insurance: Ho-Ho-Ho-Holidays and Possible Backlogs! Don’t Let the Quirks Steal Christmas! November 09 2021

Order soon! Peruse our web site (and our beautiful catalog!) for gifts to give those you care about—books to treasure!  The nation-wide backlog is affecting Waldorf Publications in quirky ways. DON’T MISS THE PERFECT BOOK or science kit because of one of those quirks.

Books are lasting gifts for everyone. Science kits for pre- and early-teens are such fun (in the arena of physics). There are books for every age, and every interest! Everyone wishes to read inspirational stories that fill imaginations and rouse happy feelings!

Ordering early increases your chances of accomplishing the perfect gift idea, safe from quirks! In these unpredictable years, we are resorting to early holiday prompting so that the perfect gift doesn’t disappear on you!

Shop Now!

Book Review: Bare Hand Crafting - the sequel to Bare Hand Knitting November 01 2021

If you loved Bare Hand Knitting, here is Aleshanee Akin’s next volume, Bare Hand Crafting 2! It is filled with more advanced techniques using yarn, thread, and your own two beautiful hands!  Many have asked about this upcoming treasure trove of creativity and now it is here! In addition to learning how to knit without needles, you can learn to hand knit in three dimensions, and to crochet, embroider, and combine all your skills to make lovely things to wear, to play with, and to enjoy.

Book Review: Form Drawing October 11 2021

Form Drawing is a book about a subject unique to Waldorf schools. This book offers the best introduction to form drawing this Library Lady has ever seen! Form Drawing is full-color and bursting-with-illustrations—it is a must-have for understanding this powerful and engaging artistic subject!

Beginning on the first day of first grade, form drawing helps artistically to develop in children a sense of space, movement, balance, proportion,

Why Do Waldorf Schools Celebrate Michaelmas? September 28 2021

Excerpt from "Waldorf Journal Project #15 - Michaelmas"

Summer’s haze vanishes when the clear skies and crisp air of September arrive. This is the time we establish our rhythms for the year; in many respects it is more of a New Year than January 1. It is a time of separation and individualization. The cool, pristine air wakes us from our summer daze and our thinking becomes more precise.

Two favorites are now back in print! August 09 2021

Two favorites are now back in print!

Toward the Deepening and The Sun with Loving Light are back in print and available once again! Waldorf Publications is excited to announce that Toward the Deepening, an indescribably important book, is back in print!

Remembering Betsy Gimenez July 15 2021

Betsy Gimenez, Waldorf teacher and advisor, member of the First Class of the School for Spiritual Science and the Pedagogical Section, crossed the threshold on June 29, 2021in Boston, with her two sons at her side. For the past couple of years Betsy had been fighting cancer, only to be diagnosed a few weeks ago with Leukemia.

Betsy was extroverted, brilliant, articulate, loud, funny, outspoken and controversial. She was easy to notice, and, for some, easy to judge and even dismiss, a reaction that upset her deeply. Not one to flee a challenge, she would, after a suitable period of fuming, find a way to reverse such people’s superficial first impression. Key to such reversals was her honesty and directness, and her steadfast devotion to Waldorf Education and the success of the schools. But most importantly Betsy was warm-hearted and deeply sensitive to others, be they students (especially young adolescents), colleagues, parents, friends or opponents. She was a true artist of education.

While Betsy took her study and inner work seriously, she always balanced it with an irrepressible joie de vivre that appeared in a variety of fun-loving ways. She was one of the pillars in the temple on the Acropolis of Waldorf Education. She would have laughed heartedly at this image, then just as quickly warned against retracting it, revealing with a clever wise crack how much she appreciated being acknowledged.

Drama and Young People June 02 2021

The tradition of the annual “class play” in Waldorf education has been built up over decades but was not one of the original ideas in the first Waldorf school. Teachers have discovered over time how important and helpful the play is for youngsters; emotionally, spiritually, and socially. Watching a quiet child come into her own like never before through a role in a play, or feeling a class develop gratitude for a slightly marginalized classmate when that child is the prompter who saves everyone from losing lines, can transform the structure and dynamics of a class.

Social Justice and Waldorf Schools May 24 2021

The Spring/Summer issue of the Research Bulletin will be coming your way soon! Devoted to social justice, curriculum, and the imagination of the human being, you will not want to miss it!  Articles come from disparate directions and points of view. Ideas for diversity, deep thoughts about the truth concerning child development, and poetic approaches to finding our way are all included.

Why is May Day Celebrated in Waldorf Schools? April 30 2021

Why is May Day Celebrated in Waldorf Schools?

Tra La, it’s May, the lusty month of May
That cheery month when everyone goes blissfully astray.
It’s time to do a shocking thing or two.
Those dreary vows that everyone takes, everyone breaks,
Everyone makes divine mistakes! The lusty month of May.
          ~ Queen Gwenevere sings in Camelot

May Day is a Northern Hemisphere festival (and is also called International Workers’ Day) and is celebrated in many Waldorf schools.  It is an ancient tradition of celebrating the arrival of summer. Known as Beltane in Celtic lands, and celebrated by the Romans recognizing the goddess Flora, May Day is a popular tradition. The May Pole Dance is a joyful experience, and often the center of the May Day celebration.  The May Pole often bears garlands and symbolizes the tree of life and growth of spring vegetation. This festival is celebrated as an entire school community. In most Waldorf schools, children from each grade take turns doing a May Pole dance. The patterns get more complicated as the children mature. Whole classes of children prepare “May Baskets,” hand-woven baskets of new spring flowers that are then hung on the fence posts or door handles or front steps of neighbors or loved ones to wish them a happy spring.

The Waldorf School of Saratoga Springs from The Daily Gazette

Throughout history cultures have employed rituals that reflect the patterns of nature and mark transitions for individuals or groups. All around the world in Waldorf schools the daily, weekly, and yearly rhythms infuse the life of the school. The purpose of each school´s festival life is to bring the community together and enrich the soul of each individual. Some festivals are small events — the teacher and their class. Others are for the entire school, while others include the school’s greater community and neighbors.

By celebrating the passage of the seasons through art, music and story, we strengthen our connection to the rhythms of nature. Waldorf education was born in Western Europe at the beginning of the 20^th century and therefore Waldorf schools typically follow the traditional festivals of Western, Christian culture. Recognizing that not all families share this background, Waldorf schools throughout the world strive to honor the diversity of cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds of the families within each community.

Wherever you are, whatever your climate, in salute to the steady and fragile rhythms of our mother, Earth, we wish you a happy, festive, ribbon-festooned, lively, raucous May Day! And a fertile new year of the Earth!!

1900-1910 Children's group maypole dancing

The soon to be reprinted  "The Sun With Loving Light" has lovely songs and poems about spring and the darling book "The Dandelion's Cousin" is likely to spark a lively interest in the spring landscape! Happy May Day!

Now Available - Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals: Toward a Biology of Form March 29 2021

Waldorf Publications is pleased to announce the inclusion of Wolfgang Schad’s new edition of his master work: Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals (original editions in English titled: Understanding Mammals or Man and Animal) in our offerings. Anyone teaching fourth grade or High School, anyone interested in strengthening the relationship to the animal world must have this two-volume set!  The photographs are compelling, the information is comprehensive and compassionate, and the shared relationship between mammals and human beings is made crystal clear and movingly complete through this deep study. It is a necessarily expensive set, but the results are beyond ordinary value and you will treasure the books for a lifetime!

Saint Patrick and the Fading of Druid Culture on the British Isles March 16 2021

Saint Patrick was an extraordinary man in the scheme of the history of Western and, particularly, Irish Civilization. A Roman aristocrat as a boy in Gaul, he was captured by Irish marauders and sold to an Irish chieftain. For years he tended the sheep herds and learned to read the elements of fire, air, earth and water, the basic magical vehicles from the Druid religion. He learned to speak and to love the ancient Irish Gaelic. After many years he escaped back to Gaul and entered the monastery of Martin of Tours.

Book Review: Like a Phoenix from the Ashes March 02 2021

Burnout is a global phenomenon, particularly during this pandemic. There are reports of illnesses related to burnout from almost every country around the world. During this time of fear about illness and death, and lock-down that curtails events that give our hearts contact with others — celebrations, artistic opportunities, and chances to rejoice — burnout becomes a particularly timely issue to discuss.

Waldorf Grade 7 Book Recommendations February 25 2021

Seventh graders are in the throes of the mighty force of puberty and the birth of the last of the “finer bodies” that some would call the “aura” of the human being. No births are quiet and the chatter in a classroom is the sound that begins in sixth grade and lasts through eighth and signals the arrival of a new birth, new capacities, and new challenges. The growth at this time in a young human being rivals the growth of a newborn and will not be repeated for the rest of life.

Waldorf Grade 6 Book Recommendations February 19 2021

In sixth grade, the 11/12 year-old is usually beginning to experience the onset of puberty. Growth happens at an increasingly rapid rate and the child often goes through a time of alarm, not recognizing who he or she is anymore. Just as a single example, somewhere during the time of puberty a girl’s larynx grows to three times its original size and a boy’s, seven times its original size. This growth rate will never be repeated in the life span of human development.

Now available - A Call to Teach February 14 2021

Among the few books available that address the vocational call to be a teacher, up rises A Call to Teach, like a friendly morning sun.  Torin Finser’s book celebrates the power of the vocation of teaching.  High time!

In the midst of the digital debacle in education caused by the pandemic of 2020, Finser’s timely book reminds us all of the importance teachers hold in the minds and hearts of the young. Films have been made around the transformations that become possible for a youngster from the dedicated heart of a teacher — and also about the damage that can be done by a teacher who deviates from the priceless calling to follow his or her own dislikes against a particular child. The power of the teacher is clear.

Candlemas and Groundhog Day February 02 2021

Today is one of those cross-quarter days. Some celebrate it as Ground hog day or the day when our hope of an end to winter might be divined by a groundhog. “Punxsutawney Phil,” from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has been the official weather groundhog, marking this day since 1887. 2016 marks his 130th year of predicting, with 100% accuracy, whether or not winter will be done in six weeks or will continue beyond that six weeks.

Book Review: Xavier Sings Stories of His Alphabet Friends January 12 2021

Technology has opened vistas galore on the science of brain development. One remarkable discovery for Waldorf teachers and parents is how potent music is in developing memory. All of us are much more likely to remember something if we learn it in song.

 

This isn't surprising in one significant way: music often makes us feel, sometimes very deeply. It cultivates a mood, and we are more likely to recall the mood than the content. If something is very funny or very sad or very moving or very shocking, we are much more likely to remember than if there is no mood at all. Once the mood is evoked, the content then follows.

Waldorf Grade 5 Book Recommendations December 15 2020

The fifth-grade child is reaching the height of childhood. Capacities have solidified and consolidation runs through the whole fifth grade year. The child begins to realize what he or she knows and can do. Rudolf Steiner said that fifth grade is a year of balance. Though this is true, it can be misleading. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the fifth-grade year is without any problems. This balance is most clearly true for the physical maturing of the child, as a child. For the first time the breath and heartbeat reach adult proportions. Each breath is now accompanied by four heartbeats.