Michaelmas: a festival of courage

Michaelmas is celebrated by Waldorf schools around the world at the end of September. It honours the Archangel Michael, a figure of courage, goodness and truth, who in the legend does not slay the dragon but tames it. In the Northern Hemisphere the festival leads towards winter; here in Alverstone it comes in spring, with the days lengthening and the garden waking up.

Our Primary School celebrated with the Michaelmas play and a feast afterwards. Class 2 made their own butter for the dragon bread, and Classes 4, 5 and 7 each marked the festival in their classrooms. Class 5 also brought Ancient Persia to life with plays about the trials of Zarathustra.

As the newsletter put it, "the dragon is not an external being; it lives within each of us". Michaelmas reminds us that we can choose to act with courage, love and kindness, even when it is hard.