The icy blast of winter has blown across the land, and King Winter and Jack Frost are becoming frequent visitors to our vegetable gardens, flowerbeds, and windowsills. On many dark mornings, we awake to find delicate fingers of ice dancing across spider webs and leaves that eventually turn to drips and puddles as the sun slowly wakes up from her deep sleep. Winter is a time of inward reflection and seeking an inner light amidst the darkness. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and the longest night, and in the Steiner tradition we celebrate the turning of the season with our community Winter Festival. During this festival, we walk in a spiral formation while lighting the dark path with glowing lanterns and singing festive songs together.
This year, we are grateful to see a return to a new kind of ‘normal’ that allows us the opportunity to come together as a school community to share traditions and create memories with one another. In the last few weeks, the Kindergarten children have been lovingly collecting seeds for Mother Earth’s grotto, and the Year 1 and 2 children are preparing for the traditional spiral walk in the darkened space of the Drama Room. Across the Primary School, children are busily making their lanterns in anticipation of the upcoming whole school Winter Festival. Classrooms and outdoor spaces have begun to hum with excitement as children paint, glue, staple and hammer their various creations. Such care, devotion, and creativity go into each creation, and to witness all the different types and shapes of lanterns come together in the weeks leading up to the festival is a magical sight. From viking ships to dodecahedrons, to rainbow serpents and castles, it will surely be a feast for all the senses on the night.
We look forward to sharing the tradition of our Winter Festival celebrations with all members of the school community over the coming weeks. All Primary School families from Kindergarten to Year 6 are invited to attend the Winter Festival on the evening of Friday 17 June 2022.
Sharaine Talip – Acting Head of Primary School K-6
