Daily Verse or Quote:
Lucy Light,
The Shortest day &
The Longest Night
I am so excited to blog tonight. Today at co-op began our St. Lucia, aka Lucy, week. St. Lucia is another Waldorf saint day holiday that they celebrate in their schools. It is a first celebration for me and my family as well as my partner.
St. Lucia Day is a popular Scandinavian holiday. Neither I or my husband however have any Scandinavian background (that we know of). Craig is pretty German on both sides- thus the lovely Kleemann last name. I however am primarily Irish, with a dash of German and Native American. Go figure on the Native American part of me. If you know me, then you can plainly see that I am as white and fair as Casper! I digress however. (I happen to be a bit bitter about being very very fair)
In order to celebrate St. Lucia I have had to do a bit of research. Obviously I like to make holidays our own and adapt them to fit into our rhythm. But I also don't want to lose the integrity of the holiday's original traditions either. I also want to make sure that any holiday which we bring into our home has a good message. We happen to be non-denominational Protestants, so in our church we do not have or celebrate any saints (so I am basically clueless when it comes to saints)!
For my family however this doesn't mean that we can not teach the children about the saints. When teaching the children I just make sure to highlight the underlying values that holds true for all Christians, regardless of our denominations. Craig and I really don't see any conflicts there, especially since all the saint's stories lead back to Christ (the most important element). Truly we all have more in common than I believe we all think we do.
So today we decided to bake St. Lucia buns or Lussekatt. It was a fun experience. My partner and I had to improvise with the dough a bit because despite following the recipe we had to the T, our dough did not rise much. But in the end they were very tasty and cute. Which is most important, right? We also were a bit barbaric and used chocolate instead of raisins. I mean I come about it honestly, I am pregnant- the baby needed the chocolate!
In our circle time today, I read to the children about winter and how it is a dark, restful, and sleepy time for most animals as well as people (to tie into how St. Lucia brings light in the winter). Then we spoke about how St. Lucia showed Christ's love and kindness to people (by bringing them food in the catacombs as her legend goes). I also asked the children ways in which they could show people Christ's love and kindness specifically, as St. Lucia and St. Nicholas did. Their answers were very sweet and heartfelt. I believe they are beginning to realize the heart behind the holiday. Which is refreshing for me since I get so jaded with familial stress right at times.
So on Friday this is how we will be topping off our celebration!
-We are making, in order to show Christ's kindness and love to all of God's creation, winter bird/chicken feeders (for my farm animals) and dog biscuits for our co-op mascot Penny.
-We also are going to color pictures for send to the Elderly through a non-profit called Color a Smile.
-The girls will dress in white- I have red ribbons for them and a candled wreath crown to share.
-The boys will also be included and dressed in green as tomtnissar!
-Not to mention I also have some fun stories and St. Lucia songs to sing with them.
Needless to say it will be a busy but fun day! Phew. But in the end it it worth it. Deirdre has not stopped talked about St. Lucia today. It is the first female saint we have covered and she is a fan. I think it gives her a tangible and relatable figure to emulate.
Some nice Waldorf sources I used for stories, recipes, and themes on St. Lucia:
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We love celebrating a variety of Saint days for the very same reason. They are all so different yet they are the same in their love for Christ and their desire to share that love with others. It's sad that some Saints are reduced in modern society to parades and candy (St. Patrick and St. Valentine) instead of sharing the deeper meaning for remembering them. Their love of Christ and desire to share that love even if that meant leaving their homeland or facing death.
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