3 Dec, Advent Festival

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The Cafe team

My class does portrait drawing


I attended my first Advent Festival when Oisin was only 6 months old. I was on my own. Maybe he was a year old. Anyway. He was teeny tiny and we were definitely on our own. Just us two. I was delighted that here was a place that was free of tat and that everything was very thoughtfully put together. There was only greenery which decorated the windows and doorways and a real cooked meal. The crafts were entrancing and everyone was just lovely. 

I knew all about the Advent Festival in Steiner schools, and that was literally my first introduction to the place. Annnnnd I have been coming every year since. When Oisin was wee and then after that when he was part of the school and now I am a teacher there. I cannot tell you how proud I am to be a member of the Steiner school. The work we do there for each other and the children is God's work. Whatever that God might be. We work from our hearts and we keep the art of teaching alive. In the end that is what Steiner schools do - they keep teaching alive. 

In a way the Advent Festival is both the halfway and the high water mark of the Christmas season. It is an effort by the school community on a scale never seen before. It is a contraction of every pore we possess. Really, it is incredibly impressive. And the children is why we do it. The children are given all these wonderful treats of the season - the quiet, the frivolity, the beauty - and the company. The Advent Festival makes an indelible mark on their souls. 

I could say so much much more, but really it is the parents which pull the thing off. I am always in wonder of it.

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