SEPTIEMBRE 2023
The traditional festivals celebrated at the Waldorf school allow us to experience the wonderful experience of accompanying the Earth in its rhythmic breathing, since they are the celebrations of the seasons of the year. By connecting to the world around us, we become participants in a community that celebrates recognizing itself as the link between the cosmos and the Earth and that seeks the inner balance of the forces that both environments exert on the human being.
Michaelmas Meaning
The archangel Michael is a symbol that represents the effort of our inner being in its desire to transcend our fears, attachments and selfishness.
It also represents the courage we have in abandoning the ephemeral illusion of space-time, and opening ourselves towards the eternal, real and permanent.
Michael’s sword in his right hand symbolizesTruth, that is: Being honest with oneself and with others.
The scales in his left hand represent the balance between Compassion and Firmness. If one becomes unbalanced and becomes very compassionate, he falls into permissiveness. It will be easy to be taken advantage of, deceived and manipulated. In the opposite case, if one becomes very rude and exceeds his strength, he stops being firm and becomes violent, falls into anger, destabilizing himself, and losing power.
Celebration
At school we experience the values behind this celebration: bravery, initiative, courage, perseverance and protection. Primary school children do this through tests of courage: they climb, overcome obstacles, maintain balance, jump, etc. All of this strengthens them because they draw from within themselves that strength and confidence to overcome all the challenges that are presented to them.
The preschool children also experience the values of the harvest, being grateful for the fruits that the earth has given us and sharing them by having breakfast together and thus welcoming the autumn equinox, a moment where darkness begins to predominate over sunlight, which encourages us to have a calmer and more introspective rhythm towards our interior. They also participate in tests of skill and bravery to strengthen their will and self-confidence. These activities take place in the school garden.
Verse for Micael
We must eradicate from the soul
All fear and terror of what comes towards man out of the future.
We must acquire serenity
In all feelings and sensations about the future.
We must look forward with absolute equanimity
To everything that may come.
And we must think only that whatever comes
Is given to us by a world-directive full of wisdom.
It is part of what we must learn in this age,
namely, to live out of pure trust,
Without any security in existence.
Trust in the ever present help
Of the spiritual world.
Truly, nothing else will do
If our courage is not to fail us.
And let us seek the awakening from within ourselves
Every morning and every evening.
Rudolf Steiner