Celebrating Michaelmas the Waldorf Way

Michaelmas is a festival celebrated in many Waldorf schools and homes. It is often called The Festival of Courage. It typically happens around the end of September, September 29th being the official day, so it falls close to the autumn equinox. Often these celebrations take on a harvest festival type of nature - to give thanks to the Earth for all she provides us and to prepare for the colder days on the horizon.

Festivals are important aspects of the Waldorf tradition, helping to establish the rhythm of the year and mark the seasons. Michaelmas is often the first festival celebrated in the school year and creates a perfect delineation point between the end of the warm summer days and the colder, crisp autumn. With autumn comes more inner driven focus, clarity, and strength to persist through the coming colder seasons.

Michaelmas Verses

Brave and true I will be.

Each good deed sets me free.

Each kind word makes me strong.

I will fight for the right.

I will conquer the wrong.

And one for the morning, you could use this leading up to Michaelmas in your morning circle or simply to greet the day:

The autumn wind blows open the gate,

Oh Michael, for you we await.

We follow you, show us the way.

With joy we greet the autumn day.

Good morning, good morning.

Michaelmas can trace its earliest roots back to the pagan harvest festivals of the post-classical period (or the Middle Ages strictly for Europe) but it became a day to honor the archangel Michael - the only angel mentioned by name in three foundational holy books - the Bible, the Quran, and the Torah. Michael is a symbol of courage, goodness, and truth. In religious traditions he is seen as a champion of justice (particularly in battles of good versus evil,) healer of the sick, and guardian of souls.

Michaelmas is often celebrated in Waldorf schools not only with a festival but with students performing the story of St Michael and St George, along with a village, taming a mighty dragon. St George and the villagers look to Michael for guidance and courage, which he shares gladly. They must gather their strength and bravery to tame the dragon. We use this story to place an emphasis on finding our own courage to battle the dragon within all of us. We all are made of both dark and light, and to tame our own dragon means to act through the light rather than the darkness.

A fun way to commemorate the day is to have the children seek out the perfect stick, then have them whittle it into their very own sword of light, like Michael used to battle and tame the dragon.

A harvest picnic is often shared after the children perform the story. At home, a great idea is to read the story of Michael aloud or create a puppet show. And then of course, have your own family harvest picnic! Dragon bread is a fun food to create with your children. The recipe for sun bread works well for this bread, simply form your dough into a dragon rather than a sun and use raisins for the eyes and nostrils. Get creative and involve your children in the process, whether helping to measure and mix, knead the dough or helping to shape the dragon, it never fails to delight them to get to eat something they helped create. You can find that recipe here. You could even use sliced cucumbers, peppers and carrots to make a veggie dragon!

Come on into the shop to explore our Michaelmas and other festival books, along with character toys you could use to tell the story (I like to use the figure called St Martin by Ostheimer, but I think he works as both Martin or Michael) or gather what you need to create your own!

Don’t forget to follow us over on Instagram, too. We hope to see you soon and you have a wonderful Michaelmas and Autumn Equinox.