West Coast Steiner School is committed to being a Child Safe Organisation, taking a preventative and participatory stance on child protection issues and promoting a child safe environment. West Coast Steiner School explicitly forbids the use of any form of child abuse, corporal punishment or other degrading punishment as defined in our Child Protection Policy.
Blog Layout
The Makuru Winter Festival
By Vanessa Fountain
Kaya WCSS Community,
In last week’s blog article I talked about slowing down, about noticing the changes that are happening around us and taking stock of our outer life as an expression of our inner life. In Week 8 we will be celebrating the mid-winter solstice at school.
This is a much-loved festival where we come together as a community, share a meal, and then walk a nature pathway (early childhood) or the mid-winter spiral (primary).
The nature pathway and the spiral are representative of journeying into the centre of the earth, the centre of the heart.
It is a contemplative spiritual journey, a journey made with family (for our children) but ultimately it represents the journey to the self, the journey of light into darkness and must be taken alone.
It is the path of the pilgrim and the hero, a path of self-discovery and finding one’s own light, one’s own path.
It is a journey that takes us deep into the longest, darkest night, but for those willing to commit to the journey there is a light, so pure, bright, and unwavering at the centre. It is a light that cannot be dimmed by the trials, tribulations, tragedies, and heartbreak that we all have experienced. It is the light of the child, of innocence, of strength and courage. It is a reminder amongst other things of who we are as spiritual beings and the task we have here on Earth at this time and in this place. We physically walk the spiral, spiralling inwards. We are silent, our senses are drawn in, inviting us to remember, to come home and then there at the heart of the spiral, is the light. We pause, perhaps we close our eyes and allow ourselves to acknowledge where we are, what we are doing. We reconnect with the light, and we like the sun, expand outwards, renewed, enliven, strengthened by the experience.
The spiral also represents the heavenly marking of the seasons, the centre, midwinter. The outward spiral represents the journey back to summer.
The invitation is to reconnect, to realign and recommit not to someone else’s path but to the fullest, noblest, most light filled, joyous expression of who you are and the life you’ve come to live.
The children love the excitement of being together in the dark, of the lanterns and the light. There is the community and sharing our meal together but there is also the reverence. A few years back I had the privilege to watch the primary school classes walk the indoor spiral. The room was darkened and the spiral rich and aromatic. The children entered in silence. The teacher walked the spiral first, showing the way and placed her/his candle near the centre. Each child then took their turn to walk to the centre and place their candle along the way – lighting the path for those that followed. From Class 1 to Class 6, the children walked the spiral silently and reverently. They then returned to their seats around the spiral and were allowed a few moments to take in the beauty of what they had just done and what they were looking at. One class brought tears to my eyes; the children held such wonder, awe, and reverence. Their teacher had modelled such grace, presence, and deep love, that they felt it to the core of their being. Having experienced authentic reverence, deep respect for the self and others, they were able to experience the spiral at that same level.
We teach reverence, awe, and wonder in the school by modelling it.
By exposing the children to a rich array of experiences that speak to truth, beauty, and goodness. By holding space and listening when someone is speaking or performing.
One of the ways I like to think of this is through the lens of yoga.
Yoga has eight limbs. The first limb is the Yamas or practices to moderate our behaviour so our actions, words and deeds have a positive impact on all our relationships. There are five Yamas. The third of the Yamas is Asteya. Asteya can be translated as (A: not, steya: to steal). “Not to steal” Of course, this refers to the physical act of taking something that is not yours but there are many more subtle meanings.
Festivals, live performances, concerts, all provide a rich opportunity for our children to practice holding space for each other and for the performers.
They allow the children to learn about purpose and context and to know how to hold space for themselves and by extension, others. This is not to say that we all need to behave in one way. Rather that when we agree to come together as a school for a specific purpose, that we honour that purpose. That we allow by our demeanour, our holding, our actions, and our attitudes, everyone to experience the truth, beauty, and goodness that the specified gathering has to offer.
It can be stressful when we ask our children to sit quietly and eat their meal with the family. It can seem frustrating to ask our children to stay by our side when all they want to do is run off with their friends in the dark.
It can be tiring modelling and insisting on quiet, on listening. This is the “not stealing” I was referring to. We don’t want to rob our children of the opportunity to experience the richness the festival has to offer. We don’t want to deny our children of the opportunity to learn to moderate their behaviour. We want to give our children the opportunity to learn to hold themselves and others with compassion, kindness, reverence, and respect.
Martha Beck is credited as saying “How you do anything is how you do everything”. Our world presents as fast, complex and at times downright scary. If we can give them the gift of reverence. If we can model for them the stillness and the calm of a peaceful heart. If we can teach them to listen and to be still, then we have given them the tools to look inside, find calm in a world of storm and offer a space where others can rest.
Our teachers have all planned beautiful lantern making experiences for the children that reflects their unique stage of development.
The Class 6 children have been practicing their performance and the school choir has been fine tuning its offerings for the Primary Makuru Winter Festival. We are so excited to be able to come together as a community for this special festival. Our wish is that we hold each other in love and respect. That we support each other and our children as they gather essential life skills and discover their own unique inner light and path.
May the Makuru Winter Festival fill you with love, hope and strength.
Vanessa Fountain
Rose Kindergarten Teacher