Michaelmas is a festival originating in Europe and commonly celebrated in the Waldorf community. We have been observing it for at least 5 years, and the children love it. It is based around the story of Michael fighting the dragon in heaven. We tell stories of dragons and the people who fight them, particularly the English legend of St. George and the Dragon. We make dragon bread. This year, we collected goldenrod and used it to dye Capes of Courage.
Because Preston is only in kindergarten, I chose not to tell any violent dragon stories. Instead, we told the gentle story from the Waldorf Essentials kindergarten book, where Super Sam the Gnome meets a friendly dragon with the hiccups. As you can see, story time with candles is a popular event in our home.
I modified the end of the story so that Super Sam would receive a cape and sword from the King to honor his bravery in finding the dragon. While Preston was enthralled in the story, his big sister came up behind him and placed a cape on his own shoulders and then a sword in his hand. I'm so thrilled with how beautiful our goldenrod capes turned out!
We just *had* to have a dragon and a knight. I spent three hours making this dragon from Rhythm of the Home. St. George is made with beeswax and was super easy.
I also splurged on an appropriate card for our nature table.
Of course the highlight of the day is making dragon bread! The kids never tire of this. If Dallin had not been away on a school soccer trip, I'm certain that he, at age 13, would have been just as invested and the younger chidren.
Sariah seemed to get into all the dragon imagery even more than Preston. She's been fighting some of her own personal dragons this past year, so maybe that's why this celebration meant more to her.
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