We celebrated Martinmas at Waldorf last week. It's a great festival which celebrates St. Martin, who did much good for the poor while being a brave soldier (he later became a priest) and is also the point in time where we are heading into more dark than light, the autumnal equinox. The girls made these lanterns which have real flower petals and leaves modge podged on a canning jar. There is a tea light at the bottom of the jar. They glowed beautifully. I think they got the understanding that we have good or "light" in us to get us through the dark times. My mom went with us to the Lantern Walk at school and also enjoyed the wonderful play the 6th grade did of acting as Roman Soldiers with St. Martin. Great music and song from the students and 800 lanterns lined our path. It was a beautiful evening. This is a great story that I found which the early childhood learns for Martinmas:
There once was a girl called Naiya who had who had been outside
in the garden all through the Summer running after the butterflies, jumping
like a grasshopper, singing like a bird, and trying to catch the sunlight. One
day when she was lying on her back in the meadow gazing up into the sun-filled
sky, she said, “Dear Father Sun, soon the Autumn winds will blow and wail, and
Jack Frost will come and make us all freeze, and the nights will be long and
cold.”
Father Sun pushed the clouds aside and said, “Yes, it will be
dark and cold. In the deep midwinter, warmth and light live deep within, hidden
from sight. In the time of dark and cold, you will tend the Light Within.”
“But,” said Naiya, “How will I tend this Light when it’s dark
everywhere around me?” “I will give you a spark of my last Autumn rays once you
have made a little house for it, for this spark must be guarded well. It will
light the way for you to tend the Light Within throughout the time of dark and
cold.”
And then Father Sun once hid again behind a cloud. Naiya went home and
wondered how best she could make a little house for the spark of the sun. She
took some tissue paper and some beautiful Autumn leaves and with glue pressed
them onto the outside of a glass jar. Then she bound the top with a handle and
formed it into a lantern. She took a candle and put it into the middle of her
lantern. And, as it was growing dark, she went outside with it.
Naiya held the lantern up above her and said, “Father Sun, I
have made a little home for one of your golden sparks. Please may I have one? I
will guard it well.”
Then Father Sun looked out from behind a cloud and said, “You
have made a beautiful home. I shall give you one of my golden sparks.”
And suddenly, Naiya saw how the sides of her lantern were lit
up, and as she looked into the lantern, she saw a spark happily dancing on top
of the candle. Oh, how happy the light was in her lovely lantern! It shone and
shone so brightly.
“Thank you, Father Sun,” Naiya called out, “Thank you.” And she
took her lantern and carried it carefully home singing:
The
sunlight fast is dwindling,
my little lamp needs kindling.
Its beam shines far in darkest night,
Dear Lantern, guard me with your light.
