With Michaelmas we mark a transition time, perhaps a few transitions. Soon the weather will cool and the days will become shorter, a transition from summer to fall. Summer holidays are coming to an end and we all have to get used to the rhythm of school days again. At some point we'll have to haul out jackets, hats, and long johns. These are all outer changes and require one kind of effort. But as our activities shift indoors a bit more and our habit life becomes more disciplined to accommodate the daily preparation for school, there are more situations that might trigger feelings of impatience or annoyance. The inner dragon might rise more often than we would like it to. Michaelmas is a time of year, if we mark and celebrate this festival, when we can make an extra effort to become aware of our habits of behavior and begin to create new and better selves. We tame the dragon and direct its roaring energy toward the good.
Michaelmas is a reminder that we have work to do all through the dark and cold days of winter. If we contribute to the transformation of ourselves, taming the inner dragon, we reflect something more positive to our community and help everyone else to evolve along with us. We carry the promise of fall all through the dark days of winter, that the sun and the burgeoning growth of spring will again return to light our way.
Although the Michaelmas festival bears similarities from school to school and from one geographic location to another, there might be one aspect or another that dominates the mood. In Canada the days get very short in the dark days of winter. Sometimes it's still dark when we arrive at school in the morning and it's already dusk when we go home at 3:30 or 4:00. Snow stays on the ground and piles up from November until March. Having an inner reminder of the promise of spring becomes ever more important. Many people suffer from depression during the later months of winter.
One lovely practice in many Canadian Waldorf schools is the planting of bulbs at the Michaelmas festival. Parents send little packages of bulbs to school with their children during the weeks preceding Michaelmas. Right before the festival the varieties of bulbs are all mixed together and distributed equally to all the classes. We find all our little trowels and shovels in preparation for the planting. When the day of the festival arrives and all the parents, teachers and children have assembled, we go to a special place.The teachers sing a song and then there is a blessing of the bulbs. Each class, along with a group of parents, goes to a designated garden bed and plants all their bulbs in the bed. Once we have all washed our hands and put away our tools the students excitedly put on their costumes for the little Michaelmas play.
Everyone looks forward to watching the fierce dragon appear from his lair and come to take the princess away to devour her. We are so relieved every year when St George succeeds in taming the dragon and the princess leads him back to the village where he will now be of service to the community. The yearly terror of the dragon is transformed into something good. The story and the promise of the bulbs that will bring us so much beauty in the spring warm our hearts and bring light to our souls all through the long, dark nights. The promise is kept when, finally, the little green spikes appear out of the frozen ground in spring and blossom into such a brilliant array of colors, strengthening our faith once more.
May our Michaelmas festival here at SOLA be especially blessed this year and my our light shine out to each other always!
By Cindy Taylor, 4-6th Grade Teacher and Lower School Steward