Michaelmas

Apple Blossom's dear teachers, Ms. Marquis and Ms. Khoshabo. 

Last week, the students, teachers, and families of Apple Blossom celebrated Michaelmas, the first of the school year's festivals. If you're new to Waldorf traditions, these festivals are one of the most fun new elements to discover. Each one helps mark a change in the seasons and prepares both children and parents for the seasonal shift ahead.

Michaelmas is celebrated when Summer turns to Autumn, when we start calming our wild summer energy into the more focused rhythm of the school year. It's a great time to connect with new and old friends after the first few weeks of school have finished. Families arrive at lunchtime, carrying in picnic blankets and bowls to the schoolyard lawn. The children run out to meet us, feet fast and eyes bright. An afternoon to stay at school together instead of heading straight home -- what fun!

Ms. Khoshabo serves the soup.

Michaelmas is a symbol of harvest time and to celebrate the children make us homemade bread (in the shape of an amazing dragon) and vegetable soup (with veggies harvested from the school garden) while the teachers fill our bowls and plates with each.

How lovely to take a few moments out of the day to sit next to our children on the grass, enjoying together the food they so proudly made, sharing stories from our day or maybe just a quiet hug. And when the typical lunch for moms might be a quickly eaten sandwich or something half-frozen from the microwave, what a treat to to enjoy a homemade meal. A simple ritual that warms us all.

And after everyone has rested and eaten their fill, the kids spring up and run free alongside their friends, tossing their handmade comet balls into the air and watching them flutter down again and again.

Comet balls!

And too soon it's time to roll up the blankets and bring home all the warm energy from an afternoon spent outside, amongst friends and family and great food.