Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Waldorf Advent


I came across this poem in a blog last week, and although it appears to be pretty well-known in the 'crunchier' parenting circles, it's new to me. Interesting to me was the willingness of many people embracing a Waldorfian parenting philosophy to let the centrality of nature in their beliefs co-exist with the centrality of Christ's birth.

In that spirit, I give you the Rudolf Steiner version of Advent. Purely food for thought:

The first light of Advent is the light of stones.
Stones that live in crystals, seashells, and bones.

The second light of Advent is the light of plants.
Roots, stem, leaf, flower and fruit by whom we live and grow.

The third light of Advent is the light of beasts.
Animals of farm, field, forest, air and sea.
All await the birth in greatest and in least.

The fourth light of Advent is the light of humankind.
The light of love, the light of thought, to give and to understand.

1 comment:

Momfluential said...

Interesting - my kids go to a Waldorf School and since it is a public school there is no advent but they did do a spiral "walk of light" this past month that I suspect was based on this poem. The kindergarteners walked in a spiral with lit candles in apples (can you say NERVOUS MOM HERE!) and placed their apple on stars, wherever they were moved.

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