Tamar Valley Steiner School celebrates the rhythm of the year with seasonal festivals. They are an enriching part of our school’s community life, and a vital part of Steiner Education. Together with art, music, story and poetry, the children learn to identify and recognise the changing rhythms of nature.
“If people can take part in an annual cycle of seasonal rites of passage that have an observable reality in the changes of nature, they may, it is hoped, feel a stronger responsibility as adults for the earth and its needs, and not be confined to their heads.” - Rudolph Steiner
Harvest Festival
In autumn we hold our Harvest Festival and celebrate Michaelmas, also known as the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, to mark the end of the summer harvest and beginning of autumn. Each child is asked to bring something for our harvest table, which forms the centrepiece of the festival. This produce is donated to a charity to provide nourishing food to members of our community.
The Harvest Festival is a feast of colour and autumn songs, and the school performs a play about St Michael and his courage and guidance taming a terrifying dragon. It is a message of inner strength, initiative, and the triumph of light over darkness. Each class has a specific role in the play that complements their stage of development. This forms a rite of passage as students graduate from role to role throughout their years in the school.
The day is also celebrated with the sharing of vegetable harvest soup made by the children during the week.
This year, families gathered after lunch to help plant native seedlings for the school’s LandCare revegetation project.
In autumn we hold our Harvest Festival and celebrate Michaelmas, also known as the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, to mark the end of the summer harvest and beginning of autumn. Each child is asked to bring something for our harvest table, which forms the centrepiece of the festival. This produce is donated to a charity to provide nourishing food to members of our community.
The Harvest Festival is a feast of colour and autumn songs, and the school performs a play about St Michael and his courage and guidance taming a terrifying dragon. It is a message of inner strength, initiative, and the triumph of light over darkness. Each class has a specific role in the play that complements their stage of development. This forms a rite of passage as students graduate from role to role throughout their years in the school.
The day is also celebrated with the sharing of vegetable harvest soup made by the children during the week.
This year, families gathered after lunch to help plant native seedlings for the school’s LandCare revegetation project.
Lantern Walk
The Lantern Walk is a time to honour the seasonal transition from autumn to winter. The children make beautiful lanterns during class time, and traditionally we have held free workshops so families and members of the public can come and make and decorate their own lantern too. These lanterns represent us taking our light into the darker, shorter days.
The Lantern Walk has been held both at school and at City Park in previous years, to greater engage the wider community.
Carrying our handmade lanterns we walk and sing traditional songs that encourage us to be the warmth and light for ourselves and for others. This festival celebrates hope and kindness and reminds us all of our shared humanity.
Traditionally, the Lantern Walk celebrates Saint Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who became a monk. Saint Martin, who gave half his cloak to a freezing beggar during a snow storm, was known for his gentleness and his ability to bring light and warmth into those in darkness.
In celebrating this generosity towards others, we partner with a charity and collect donations, including blankets and clothing, for people in need over the colder months.
Listen to the songs we celebrate with on the night:
The Lantern Walk is a time to honour the seasonal transition from autumn to winter. The children make beautiful lanterns during class time, and traditionally we have held free workshops so families and members of the public can come and make and decorate their own lantern too. These lanterns represent us taking our light into the darker, shorter days.
The Lantern Walk has been held both at school and at City Park in previous years, to greater engage the wider community.
Carrying our handmade lanterns we walk and sing traditional songs that encourage us to be the warmth and light for ourselves and for others. This festival celebrates hope and kindness and reminds us all of our shared humanity.
Traditionally, the Lantern Walk celebrates Saint Martin of Tours, a Roman soldier who became a monk. Saint Martin, who gave half his cloak to a freezing beggar during a snow storm, was known for his gentleness and his ability to bring light and warmth into those in darkness.
In celebrating this generosity towards others, we partner with a charity and collect donations, including blankets and clothing, for people in need over the colder months.
Listen to the songs we celebrate with on the night:
Winter Spiral
In winter, we honour the seasonal cycle of light and darkness with a Winter Spiral. When the days are short and the nights are long, the winter festival reminds us of our ability to bring our own light into darker times.
It is a reverent night for children and their families. In the centre of the spiral, a single candle is lit. Each child walks the spiral alone to the centre, where they light their own candle to place along the spiral. When all the children have walked the path, the whole spiral is aglow with lights. It is a quiet and calm experience, both to participate in and for families to watch.
In winter, we honour the seasonal cycle of light and darkness with a Winter Spiral. When the days are short and the nights are long, the winter festival reminds us of our ability to bring our own light into darker times.
It is a reverent night for children and their families. In the centre of the spiral, a single candle is lit. Each child walks the spiral alone to the centre, where they light their own candle to place along the spiral. When all the children have walked the path, the whole spiral is aglow with lights. It is a quiet and calm experience, both to participate in and for families to watch.
Spring Festival
In spring, the days get longer, tiny buds burst into flower, we see the birth of animals, the greening grass, and feel the breathing in and out of the earth. We celebrate this time with fresh flowers, music, songs, and dancing.
In spring, the days get longer, tiny buds burst into flower, we see the birth of animals, the greening grass, and feel the breathing in and out of the earth. We celebrate this time with fresh flowers, music, songs, and dancing.
