Michaelmas- Autumn Festival

Name: Michaelmas- Autumn Festival
Start: 2025-09-25T10:00:00-07:00
Location: Martinez/Walnut Creek TBD

Schedule

Thu, 25 Sep, 2025 at 10:00 am

UTC-07:00

Location

Martinez/Walnut Creek TBD | Martinez, CA

Let’s come together to honor Autumn and celebrating the enduring human capacity for courage and goodness. I would love for our families to create this festival together.
Ideas:
Michael circles and songs
Puppet Play
Potluck picnic
Dragon bread
Dragon vegetables
Painting dragon salt dough candle holders
Courage Obstacle
Date and time can be changed depending on families involved

A little about Michaelmas and Waldorf:
Michaelmas (pronounced Mi-kel-miss) was originally a Christian festival in Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It is the feast day of the archangel St. Michael, and is celebrated at the end of September.
Because Michaelmas falls near the equinox, it is commonly associated with the beginning of autumn.
Waldorf communities use Michaelmas to teach students the importance of using courage to prepare for the colder, darker winter months as we begin to feel the impulse to turn inward after the long, warm days of summer and gather up strength and fortitude to face the colder days and long nights of the winter ahead. In addition to honouring St. Michael and marking the beginning of fall, Michaelmas represents harvest time – when people prepare for winter.
In Waldorf communities, Michaelmas, or the Festival of Courage, is the first festival of the new school year. Traditionally, children perform the play of St. George taming a fiery dragon with the help of the archangel, St. Michael, who gives him courage. Following the performance, there could be a small harvest-themed feast that might include freshly baked dragon bread baked by the children and seasonal fruits and vegetables, like apples and grapes.
The story of taming the dragon symbolizes the inner courage it takes to face our human challenges. As the days grow colder and the nights grow longer, we must find and bring forth our own inner light when the sun, warmth and growth of the earth are fading.
St. Michael, who in some versions of the story, gave courage to St. George and in others, gives courage to all the brave people of the village who have to work together to save themselves. Whatever the version, these stories give us courage to uphold what is right and true, and the strength to face the challenges that lie ahead. The story speaks to children in a deeply symbolic way, feeding their innate need for truth and justice.

“Michaelmas is a great time to ponder our own inner dragons and to cultivate the courage and strength necessary for self development.” – from Waldorf Publications newsletter