Another Advent Festival

This must be my - I don't know 20th Advent Festival. My first Advent Festival, I took Oisin as a baby on my own. He must have been only 6 months old. I was on my own, I remember carrying him in my baby carrier and I did not know anyone there. 

What appealed about the Steiner festival? This was NOT the first Steiner festival I had been to. I went to one in Switzerland and the pretty wholesomeness was what did it for me. But what was the big stand out take away as how it was centred entirely around the child and that it was without tinsel and tat and tackiness. At the end everyone got together and passed out apples in candles and we sang Christmas carols. It was a bit of sanity in the early 21st century. A bit of old world beauty.

As the years passed I made sure I took the boys there - it was just Oisin at first. I knew no one and maybe once Peter accompanied us, but usually it was just me and Oisin. I knew no one in Belfast and was slowly building up my base of people. I was working in the RSPB, I was still trying to find friends, a circle I could belong to. I still knew no one at the school. And to be honest the people in the school were not very friendly either, but that's anthroposophists for you I think.

I do remember that for me the Steiner curriculum was one which did not believe in testing - and neither did I because it is ultimately a zero sum game where no one wins, not even the ones that do win - and I also loved how art was part and parcel of the curriculum. Furthermore, my own experience of Dornach showed me that far from being racists, the Steiner movement was inclusive to everyone - it did not matter what your ability, gender nor race were, they were there. Light years ahead of everyone else. 

They promoted self sufficiency and believed that human beings could do anything. In a self assured, non-obnoxious way. Because we are creative, creativity meant that to a large extent you were independent. Free. It was freedom which we headed towards. Freedom which unaccountably been hijacked by the far right which I assumed was the least free of all political affiliations.

As the years passed, the boys started to go to the school and I would get involved. I baked gingerbread houses for for raffles, I helped to set up and man stalls. I did take down and clear up. I tried to get involved as much as possible. Then I began teaching and the festival, this festival is still the most important one for me because the children love it. It celebrates the meaning of Christmas so beautifully, so prettily. It has been thought through and brought along without the crass commercialism and cliches. It is a well loved and well attended event. It is where memories are made.

This year, I will be, not for the first time telling the story in the Crystal Forest. It is a story about two children who left on their own, must venture into the unknown, face certain danger and deliver a consignment of stones to the king who lives across the sea.

I have never come across this fairy tale and to my knowledge it was created FOR this event which is a staple in many Advent festivals. 

To me the story is full of symbolism. The shoes are the steps we take into the world, our physical body is represented by the boats, stones and crystals. The boy and girl are anima and aminus. Quest is the expulsion from heaven to earth where we build our physical bodies to carry the spirit, which is light. 

It looks like a beautifully sunny day. I am looking forward to this. This was my introduction to the school and so it is sacred to me. 

I am going to really enjoy this.