The Waldorf Christmas Fair is my personal holiday highlight of the year. I look forward to it almost as much as I look forward to Christmas. The joy and magic is absolutely intoxicating. If you’ve never been to one – you must!
First of all there are the people. Waldorfians, if I may call them that, are their own special elfin folk. They’re always smiling. And their children always seem to be so well behaved. So gentle and kind and sweet I just want to put them in my pocket and take them home. And I swear the women are wrinkle-less except for smile lines and they’re always wearing the brightest most beautiful clothes. It makes me wonder if wearing a brightly coloured hand knit scarf truly can make one a happier person. And it seems that most the mothers make their own clothes. Which, if this is true, counts me out of ever hoping to join that circle, except maybe not since they’d probably be happy to be my friend just because they’re all so sweet! Anyway, I love going to these events just to see what people are wearing. Call it the anti-red carpet. What amazing felted jacket or dress creations will I see? Today there was a little girl, probably only two or three years old, wearing a pointed, muted-pink felted hat with a matching felted vest with these lovely wisps of brown thread coming out. I swear she just crawled out of a forest fairy house. She was that cute!
The special touches, inspired by nature, are another reason I love Waldorf Christmas fairs. Upon arrival, there are cedar and fir boughs lining the walkway, perfuming the air with the smell of Christmas. Inside each door are little tables, set up like blessings of thanks, with little gnomes, pinecones, holly or hawthorne, and paper stars and twinkling lights. One table had a little wooden electric train set that circled a wooden donkey in a barn, berries and miniature pinecones set out for him to eat. My girls were mesmerised by the train while I took in all the other special touches.
Of course the main reason why the fair is such a popular event is probably due to the family activities they offer.
Do you want to make a craft? On your own or with your child? You can dye your own silk scarf, dip beeswax candles, make a wreath and the very young ones can do a kindercraft, like a pine-scented sachet or a candle holder made out of a circle of wood, or another sweet centerpiece for your holiday table. There is also storytelling and organic baked goods and music being sung or drummed or played on flute, recorder or violin at practically every turn. But the best things, at least in my opinion and my daughter’s, are these:
Blow The Boat. A small candle is lit and placed inside a half walnut shell and set to float over a watery tableau of wonder while the person facilitating the activity recites a poem. If you’ve ever set a paper lantern on the water and were mesmerized by the display you’ll understand the draw to this one. At the end of the poem the child gets to blow out the candle and keep the boat. I found this is be especially good for soothing a tired, cranky, over-stimulated child.
The cookie cavern is my girls’ favorite. I love seeing their eyes shining in the dark as they are led by an angel through a dark maze of fabric lit by twinkling lights. The angel speaks to them of a magical cave filled with delicious cookies, and they may choose their very own. We reach the end (I have to walk literally on my knees because the fabric ceiling is only 4 feet high) and discover a sweet vanilla, lemon and almond-smelling cavern with cookies of all shapes and sizes hanging from the ceiling and on the walls all around us. The girls are so overwhelmed by the sight and smell of the cookies it takes a full minute for them to choose one. Then they do, and they covet and treasure this special cookie, as if they’ve been given a jewel. Their eyes are wide with magic.
The enchanted garden. Again an angel leads you into a room and weaves a magical story for the children about gnomes. There are nature tables depicting all the seasons, feauring glorious needle-felted tableaus and hand-sewn gnomes planting a vegetable garden, picking apples, raking little bitty golden leaves, and making snowmen. And then at the end there is a beautiful enchanted garden of crystals. The gnomes have offered each child their very own and they get to choose. I think I was even more enchanted by this room than my daughter.
Last but not least is the market. It’s like having Etsy on display in your living room. I wanted to do Christmas shopping for my girls, and I did do a little, but oh how I wanted to buy things for myself. On the top of my list were these great wrist warmers that had a loop for your thumb. They were extra long, which made me love them all the more. Then there was this purse, made out of 95% recycled materials. It was so me, it was insane. I love fall colours (brown, orange, red, gold) and it was a caramel brown with separately stitched autumn leaves and the handle was made out of an old seatbelt. But the piece de la resistance were these clothes made by a friend who hand dyes and creates marino wool fashions – simple, gorgeous and practical. I’m getting a wrap shirt from her (she’s custom making it for me!) and I may just talk myself into a skirt too. Maybe I’ll just get hubby to foot the bill and we’ll call it my Christmas present. (Sigh of contentment). Waldorf magic to last the whole year.
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Tags: Christmas, family events, Waldorf
This sounds so amazingly magically fun! I would LOVE to go there too!!!!
.-= StorkStories´s last blog ..It’s my Birthday~ It’s my Birthday =-.
Had a BLAST at our Waldorf Christmas Fair today too! Where is your school located??
@Sam – Our Waldorf School is in Cobble HIll on Vancouver Island. It’s the Sunrise Waldorf School. We also have a Waldorf High School called Island Oak.
It was so nice to see you at the fair! It’s so funny to read your impression of us waldorfians, especially since I don’t really feel like I am one (well, I do have that first image as a postcard of the girl with the lantern on my nature table right now). I don’t make my own clothes, but I do love brightly coloured woolen clothes : ) And I do believe that the beautiful colors can make a happier person. I would love to hear more about your skirt. I didn’t know she made adult clothes, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, a woolen skirt!
.-= Catherine´s last blog ..thank you =-.
Hi Melodie! We moved from Northern California (and the San Rafael Waldorf School) to London – and our new Waldorf School in Wandsworth. We just went to the St. Michaelmas Fair here. It was lovely. My 2 1/2 year old made a lantern out of a jam jar -glueing leaves and brightly colored pieces of paper. Organic and gluten-free home-baked goods, gnomes and fairies and finger plays at every turn. I love it too! I certainly don’t think of myself as a Waldorfian – but I do knit and needle felt and love, love, love wooden toys – gnomes and water coloring!
.-= Pure Mothers´s last blog ..Can Environmentalism Go Too Far? =-.
@Catherine and @Pure Mothers – I didn’t mean to paint all Waldorf parents with the same brush. I’m sure even the super colourful needle felted jacket moms would disagree with me putting them into a box. So much for literary freedoms! (ha ha) And maybe the joy at these fairs is just so contagious that everyone is smiling. I know I dress slightly more colourfully and artistically when I’m out at one of the Waldorf events. The magic sprinkles fairy dust on adults and kids alike I think.
.-= Melodie´s last blog ..Waldorf Christmas Fair Magic =-.
It was so nice to see you at the fair! It’s so funny to read your impression of us waldorfians, especially since I don’t really feel like I am one (well, I do have that first image as a postcard of the girl with the lantern on my nature table right now). I don’t make my own clothes, but I do love brightly coloured woolen clothes : ) And I do believe that the beautiful colors can make a happier person. I would love to hear more about your skirt. I didn’t know she made adult clothes, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, a woolen skirt!
.-= Catherine´s last blog ..what do Doulas do? =-.