What Are Festivals, Anyway?
In Waldorf schools around the world, we honor the seasons through festivals. Rooted deeply in the spiritual realities of the Earth, these moments offer rhythm, ritual, and reverence as we gather in observation and celebration. As long as humans have walked the Earth, we have marked seasonal changes with communal gatherings. These festivals orient us to time and deepen our sense of meaning and belonging.
For young children especially, working memory is supported by the rhythmic cycle of the year. They move from associative memory—like connecting braided red and gold crowns with the Harvest Festival—into a deeper, anticipatory awareness, such as the excitement that grows with the longer days leading to May Faire. In this way, the body remembers what the mind might forget in the busyness of modern life, and we reconnect with our innate wisdom.
Many festivals in the Waldorf curriculum have historically drawn from Christian traditions. However, it’s my belief that Rudolf Steiner never intended for these to remain exclusive. He spoke the cultural language of his time—early 20th-century Germany, a predominantly Christian society—when founding the first Waldorf school in Stuttgart. Steiner believed in educating the whole child: body, soul, and spirit—what we often say as head, heart, and hands. Including festivals was part of this holistic vision.
In 1919, recognizing the human need for meaningful connection with oneself and others was a quiet act of resistance against the forces of fascism. Steiner believed Waldorf education could be a catalyst for global social change. By embracing and honoring festivals from a variety of traditions, we carry this mission forward into the 21st century.
At Bright Water Waldorf School, we celebrate three main seasonal festivals each year: Harvest Festival, Winter Faire and Spiral, and May Faire. At the cross-quarters, we also honor cultural and spiritual traditions including Rosh Hashanah, Diwali, Día de los Muertos, Chinese New Year, Holi, Nowruz, Eid, and Sakura.
This weekend, we look forward to celebrating May Faire, which marks the cross-quarter between the Spring Equinox and Summer Solstice—the halfway point of spring and the promise of summer to come. We gather with dance, food, laughter, song, and joyfully join hands in community.
To learn more about Festival life at Bright Water, visit our website.
“A healthy social life is found when, in the mirror of each soul, the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living.”
—Rudolf Steiner