Waldorf Matters ..... The Feast of St Nicholas
Mrs Alice Barnsdale is the Class 5 teacher at Elmfield. In our weekly blog about key aspects of Steiner Waldorf education, Alice shares her thoughts on the upcoming Feast of St Nicholas.
When my class were in Class 2, some 3 years ago, I told them about the generous but non-discriminatory and pious life of St Nicholas: right from when he was a boy up until his death many years later.
In a Waldorf school, Class 2 is a year, in particular, where the children learn about notable figures of holiness who have qualities that we might aspire to emulate and help guide us to do right from wrong. The current Class 2 have just finished their journey of Inspirational Individuals following the life of the Prophet Mohammed, of Rumi, Wangari Maathai and the Dalai Lama, of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, Saint Martin of Tours, Saint Francis of Assisi and Saint Mother Teresa.
With my class, we went right back to when Nicholas was a boy in Turkey during the time of the Roman Empire. The children heard how, through the gift of an orange, a rare fruit in those days, the fortunate Nicholas befriended a boy called Pico from a deprived neighbourhood and they became friends for life helping and serving the poor together.
It was during the first few days of December that I brought St Nicholas as a figure to my class and I had just reached telling them the end of St Nicholas’ life when there was a sharp “bang, bang, bang” at the door of our classroom. I said to the class, “I wonder who that could be?”. A child calmly responded without doubt or hesitation, “St Nicholas, of course”. And indeed, there stood St Nicholas in front of us. Such coincidental moments, or magical moments I should say, are an absolute delight to be part of as a teacher for they bring a quality of beauty, goodness and truth that Steiner advocated a Waldorf education can and should foster within each child.
As we are now approaching the end of November, the Day of St Nicholas on 6 th December is fast approaching. Although I personally did not grow up with the tradition of St Nicholas, the patron saint of children, honouring his feast day has quickly become one of my favourite festivals that we celebrate here at Elmfield.
On the morning of 6th December, among pupils and staff alike, there is an air of anticipation across the school. For the children in kindergarten, it is whether their slippers that they put out so neatly the day before have indeed been visited by St Nicholas and secretly filled with oranges and cinnamon spiced biscuits. For pupils in lower school, it is listening out for the great “rat ta tat tat” on their classroom doors and seeing a formidable but gentle figure dressed in a bishop’s mitre with staff, robe and cloak enter before them with his elf in tow. For Upper School, it is trying to guess WHO is St Nicholas this year as he taps but furtively swishes away leaving baskets outside.
Even the staff will stop their conversations in the staff room to watch as St Nicholas glides past the window for they know the children will be running up to them in the playground at breaktime to share of their St Nicholas visit: “St Nicholas said my drawings are a wonder to see” or “St Nicholas said my voice is graceful and true”, as well as “Saint Nicholas said I need to learn to tie my shoelaces”, or “St Nicholas said I have to remember to put up my chair at the end of the day!”. For in each basket left by St Nicholas will be one large scroll, or small individual ones, containing short verses or quotes, so carefully composed for each pupil. These verses celebrate the children’s unique gifts and maybe impart a little wish to focus on, too. In some classes the wise St Nicholas himself reads out the scrolls to the children, in others the children quietly read theirs to themselves. “How does he know all this about us?” some children ask each other. And as he leaves, his elf bequeaths each child a parting (edible) gift which they excitedly open and devour soon after he has left. The children’s faces are full of smiles, their eyes of wonder and their minds left pondering on the truth behind their verse.
It brings a reverence and joy to our morning that Waldorf schools work so hard to honour in the childhood experience, and one that I, as a teacher, treasure to witness and of which to be part.
“To wonder at beauty
Stand guard over truth
Look up to the noble,
Resolve on the good:
This leadeth us truly
To purpose in living
To right in our doing
To peace in our feeling
To light in our thinking,
And teaches us trust
In the working of God,
In all that there is
In the width of the world
In the depth of the soul”