Community Advent

The winds blow cold reminding us all that the chill of winter is coming. The days continue to darken and so we begin to bank the fires of our home life that will help nurture us through the dark winter’s cold.

Advent is approaching: a time for inner preparation as we look forward to kindling the inner light that glows within us all. At Live Oak Waldorf School as well as in many other Waldorf schools there is a tradition of the Advent Spiral. It helps us to prepare for the peaceful celebration of the winter festivals.

Evergreen boughs (a symbol of life everlasting) are placed in a spiral form on the floor with a large candle in its center. The room is darkened and the mood is peaceful. The spiral begins: one at a time each child walks into the spiral with an apple in which sits an unlit candle. They walk the spiral’s path, and make their way to the center. There they find the large lighted candle and from it light their own. As they walk back out, they place their apple with care somewhere along the spiral’s path and then return to their seat.

It is a special moment to watch a young child wend their way through the spiral’s path and find the universal light that they then take back to give to the world.

The experience of the Advent spiral reflects the human experience at this time of the year; entering a time of darkness, of shorter days and longer nights and going forward with hope to welcome the light of the sun after the winter solstice.
 

-Adapted by Barbara Wauters from a post by the Waldorf School of Cape Cod.