Festivals are an integral part of school life at Mountain Sage. As with Waldorf inspired schools around the globe, our festivals are a celebration of seasonal changes connecting us to the world around us. They fall in an annual rhythm that can be strength-giving to both children and adults. The cyclical nature of festivals helps us remember the previous year’s festival experience and look forward to the next. For children, the preparation, anticipation, and the slow build toward the event is as important as the event itself.

These seasonal celebrations mark the changing of light, the relation of the earth to the sun, and the connection to what is universal in the cycle of the year. The festivals also acknowledge and incorporate human values and virtues, such as courage, perseverance, and gratitude. The festival themes are brought into the classroom through decoration, story, song, movement, and drama, often connecting us to traditions from other cultures. At Mountain Sage some festivals are for the entire, extended community, some are savored by a few classrooms and their families, and others are a school-day, student only experience. However they are experienced they are rich, multi-sensory events, beloved by all!

Rose Ceremony

The Rose Ceremony happens twice each year, on the first day of school and on the last, in Waldorf schools around the world. The first day red roses are given by the 8th grade students to the incoming first graders. The red rose is a welcoming, symbolizing the beauty and joy of learning the children will experience in the grades program. The last day white roses are given by the 1st grade students to the graduating 8th graders symbolizing all the wisdom they have received in their school journey. It is a cycle of welcoming, remembering, and gratitude.

Harvest Festival

Harvest Festival

Saturday, October 5th, 10am

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The Mountain Sage Harvest Festival is a community gathering celebrating the abundance of the season and courage for the darkness of the cold months that lie ahead. We gather to recognize our striving, both as individuals and as a community, and ignite the light of all that is true and good so that it may radiate all through the coming winter. The fruits of the summer garden are shared with the warmth of soup made by our Gardening classes and the generosity of our community exemplified in the donation of fresh baked bread and apples. The children bring the magic of the season with songs and pageantry. Click here to see the schedule, learn songs, and get ideas for how to celebrate at home!

Season of Light Celebrations

Lantern Walk

POSTPONED to Friday, November 15th

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Lantern Walk

The Lantern Walk Festival is an evening event that gives the families of our younger grades (K-3) a time of reverence and reflection as the darkening days of winter envelop our world. This celebration allows us to feel the strength and brilliance of our own light in the closeness of nature’s winter departure. Each child holds their little lantern of light (made in class), singing and walking with their family and classmates through a luminaria lit path filling the evening with song and beauty. Click here to learn more about Lantern Walk.

Winter Spiral

During Music class in December

Winter Spiral is a beautiful solstice tradition that celebrates our knowledge of light’s return once again. With reverence, darkness, and song, the students each walk a spiral path lined with pine boughs holding an apple that they will place to fill the path with light. The students participate in our Winter Spiral as part of the school day. This festival gives the students an opportunity for quiet reflection and hope as nature begins its winter sleep and we reach out into the community with warmth and love for all on earth. Click here to learn more about this tradition and to learn the songs your children are singing at school.

Winter Celebration

December 19th and 20th, 2024

Our 2024 Winter Celebration is a time for children to lean into to the handmade aspects of the holidays, slowing down and celebrating the gratitude of the season. Students will make gnome gardens in Handwork class or main lesson throughout the last week of school in December. On the 20th, students will experience the Fairy Room plus a few in-class celebratory activities.

Volunteers are needed to help with gnome gardens and donations of handcrafted items are needed for the Fairy Room. Please watch for these calls to action.

Mid-Winter Faire

Saturday, February 1st, 2-5pm

After the depths of winter have passed and before spring begins to stir, we offer a celebration of Mid-Winter. Traditionally woven into the rhythm of the school days in February, this year we are thrilled to bring a new all-school event! Offered by the parent-led Winter Celebrations Committee, this will be an all-school event held outside of school hours in early February. It will be held off-site and will be open to everyone in our community with space for additional guests. There will be activities, food, and a wonderfully cozy, inviting feel. It will lean into the mid-winter mood of the slow transition from winter to spring; even in the deep of winter, seeds begin to stir.

Visit the Mid-Winter Faire page.

May Faire

Saturday, May 3rd, 10am

May Faire

Following in the footsteps of long-held traditions around the world, May Faire is a joyous festival celebrating the return of the sun and warm weather. It is also a wonderful time for renewing connections to our community, as we all emerge from the feelings of winter hibernation with fresh energy and hearts open with the vibrancy of the season. The festival is held on a Saturday, with community members invited to watch various classes dance around the Maypole, listen to music, participate in a finale community dance, and engage in a middle school-led plant sale. The students dress in their spring finery with flower crowns and face painting. This festival brings delight and joy that feeds our sense of beauty, community, and imagination. Click here to learn songs and gather ideas for celebrating at home.

Early Spring Celebration

Before the magic of May Faire begins, we offer a celebration of Early Spring. Traditionally woven into the rhythm of the school days in late March and April, this year we offer you ways to inspire a connection to this important time of year in your own home. Explore our Early Spring Celebration page to learn more.

 

 

Just as there is a rhythm to each day with different tasks appropriate to different times of the day, there is a rhythm to the year. Observing the changing season, in community, helps the children foster a sense of harmony with the rhythmic life of nature.