Chalkboard art by Mr. Doyle
The Gift of the Dragon
by Jen Rosenstein, Pedagogical Director
Today, we had our annual Michaelmas: Festival of Courage pageant and games on campus! It was lovely to have such a large group of parents who were able to witness this autumnal passage with us. As we move from the equinox and into the darker, cooler days of autumn and winter, Waldorf schools around the globe bring this festival to their communities. Humans around the world, in various traditions, have celebrated the harvest and the dimming of the light with reverence and awe. Though fearing the dark and cold is something that many of us never have to really think about in a literal sense, we can all think of this time as a time to look inward at the internal dragons that we must always face and must always seek to tame.
Personally, I like to consider dragons as gifts. What are they here to teach me? To which dragon am I a servant, and which have I managed to tame and transform?
As educators and parents we not only have our personal dragons, but we also see our children’s dragons rearing their heads in various ways from day to day and from developmental stages to developmental stages. What are those gifts? How can we help them tame and transform their inner challenges? I’d like to propose that even in the hottest moments when the fiery breath of the dragon is ushering forth in our direction, we ask ourselves, how can we hold these growing human beings in the light and help them to manifest the power and glory of those roaring beasts into forces for good? To be able to do that, we have to develop our adult superpowers by identifying our own dragons first. This is truly the meaning of the Festival of Courage.
It is the message that moves us away from binary concepts of good vs. evil and towards embracing challenge and through that process, manifesting transformation. It’s a quest for humans all over the world figuratively and literally.
I wish you all courage on your own journey into the deepest depths of the darkest nights. Thank you for being abundantly caring and courageous humans in our vibrant community!
Photos from the Michaelmas: Festival of Courage games and pageant.
