SEVEN RAVENS
  • blog
  • Kind Words
  • Seven Ravens Coaching
  • Storytelling by Sara
  • About
  • blog
  • Kind Words
  • Seven Ravens Coaching
  • Storytelling by Sara
  • About

let's begin again

every life tells a story

little glowing lights through the woods

11/12/2013

 
Picturefrom Waldorf Kindergarten Fiji's Website
I still don't have my voice back, at least, not at full strength.  I've gotten by at work and at home, even managing to read stories aloud.  Every evening, I start coughing around 6:30 pm, which makes bedtime for the small son a rather cough-filled affair.  He's still fit as a fiddle, though he has a red ring of chapping around his mouth from the cold air outside and his little pink tongue.  It's been okay, though not pleasant, being a little sick.  I accept it as part of the changing seasons around here.  

Tonight was the Lantern Walk for my son's class.  There's a tradition in Germany and the Netherlands, and possibly in some other European countries, of children going out in the streets on St. Martin's feast day, carrying colorful lanterns and singing about them.  An old legend has it that Martin, unwilling to take the post of Bishop of Tours to which he was called, took refuge in a goose pen.  The townsfolk sought him by lantern light until a goose honked and gave away his hiding place. Hence, a lantern walk (also hence, the eating of geese on Martinmas, and the source of Mårten Goosy-Gander's name in The Marvelous Adventures of Nils).  Waldorf schools have their roots in Germany, and so Waldorf classes around the world take to the streets and the parks and the seashores on an evening near to November 11, to walk and sing and light the night.  For older children, the theme of St. Martin's generosity and compassion for the poor is emphasized.  For little ones, it is a chance to embrace the changing seasons and the growing necessity of a shining our own inner light as the outer world grows darker and colder.  

Son and I drove to the Peace Garden with our lanterns, his made of wool and glass, mine of paper.  We gathered with his classmates in the icy cold twilight.  We lit the lanterns, and the singing began.  

I have been going on Lantern Walks for 13 years as a teacher, and for three as a parent.  I have always sung.  Tonight, I could not sing.  Always, it has been through singing the songs, strongly and confidently, that I have tried to keep the children focused on the walk and on the songs, to keep the parents from dissolving into chatter about the weather and car repairs and chicken pox and dessert, to be helpful and useful.  And tonight, I couldn't sing.  I tried -- over and over, I tried, and I was ashamed by the croaks and squeaks that came forth.

So I stopped singing.  I gave up on helping to "hold" the children, the parents, the walk.  I let go, and I held my lantern in the cold, and I walked behind and beside my child.  I watched my step on the paths through the woods near the cemetery fence, and I admired the luminaries along the way.  Tonight, I let go and participated.  Tonight was my first lantern walk as just a parent.  

And it was magic.
 



eta: I have noticed that mobile browsers are cutting off the last line of my posts.  I am going to see what happens now.

Barbara
11/12/2013 09:24:41 pm

This is so beautiful, Sara! The silence brings many gifts into our lives...

Here in Brasil we do the Lantern Walk during the June Festivals. The June Festivals are the brazilian way to celebrate the harvest and get ready for the winter (we do have winter in the southeast and south of Brasil).
So when June arrives and it's time to lit the big bonfire of the June Festivals, the little ones and their families get together to see/listen to the story of the Girl with the lantern, and after the story we do the Lantern Walk to the place where the bonfire will be lit. And then we sing brazilian songs related to the June Festivals. :)

Much love!
Bá


Comments are closed.
    Picture
    hi. that's me.

    Author

    Sara Renee Logan has been telling stories to everyone who would listen since she was seven. She organized storytimes for her college roommates, and spent a year at Oxford studying folklore and folktales. Many years as a Waldorf teacher allowed her to tell stories about everything from Baba Yaga's hut on chicken legs to the water cycle to the life of Joan of Arc. Sara shares her life with her partner, Melanie, their son, and an unreasonable family of pets. She continues to share her love of storytelling and stories with audiences of all ages, specializing in bringing the wild beauty of folktales to young and old. Sara writes about  parenting, storytelling, and about living a life with stories.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Biography
    Coaching
    Fairytales
    Festivals
    Life
    Links!
    Musings
    Parenting
    Story/reading
    Storytelling
    Teaching
    Waldorf
    Writing

    Archives

    January 2021
    July 2020
    June 2020
    April 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
Photos used under Creative Commons from elvissa, gagilas, jkavo, Ross Elliott, libertygrace0, The Daring Librarian, Bob the courier