Nursery Children are invited to Friday's Festival

Dear Families,


Infants, Toddlers, Preschoolers, Parents, Grandparents, and Friends are invited to our Autumn Festival on Friday, September 24, from 9 to 10:30am.

As summer changes to fall, days shorten, and the frost and cold of winter approaches, we as humans need strength and courage to help us stand upright through the darkness of winter. Different cultures have received inspiration from the meteor showers (heavenly iron, shooting stars) they observed around late September; the iron from the stars of heaven gave people strength. In various cultures and religions, this comes forth as a tale of a hero--a knight like St. George or Archangel Michael conquering or taming a dragon. For Rudolf Steiner, this battle between a knight and a dragon goes on inside each one of us--the dragon is not some Other out there to be excluded, but, rather, that part of ourselves that we need to confront, acknowledge, and tame so we are ready to be free individuals capable of serving humanity and the world.

Explanations of a psychic battle inside each of us or battles with dragons can be too much for children birth to 4, who, rather, find seasonal inspiration as days shorten and nights lengthen by looking in wonderment toward the stars. An early childhood teacher could simplify the celebration of Michaelmas toward an examination of stars--singing "Twinkle Twinkle" and cutting open an apple to reveal the star come to earth on the inside.

On Friday the 25th parents and children will gather outside to play and share a snack (Nursery children and I will have baked extra bread and made extra soup in class that week). We will also have a harvest dance to tune of the fiddle. Then we'll go inside for a puppet show. After that, we will walk to the woods to meet (as a surprise for the children) a knight from the stars and Mother Earth--they will both present us with gifts. After the walk, children and parents will depart with their gifts.


Again, this festival is open to current nursery and parent & child children and to all families in our community with young children.  Please contact us at 341-5686 or enrollment@whidbey.com with any questions.


Parents of children of all ages are invited to a joint faculty, parent, and community study at the pavilion at WIWS on the night before, Thursday, September 23, from 7 to 9pm.  William Dolde, our parent & child teacher, will address adults at that study.  He will guide the community in singing, talk a bit about Rudolf Steiner's description of Michaelmas, and tell a longish fairy tell that resonates with the themes of Michaelmas.


With warmth and light,


William Geoffrey Dolde