Having lots of little family traditions is really important to me.
In the Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin showed studies that traditions were important to happiness in families. Read her tips on starting a family tradition from this Tip Wednesday article. I go a little hogwild with stuff sometimes, such as decorations. But the boys really do look forward to most of the silly things I conjure up with them and hopefully it will leave them with great memories.
Today at Ry's school we celebrated Candlemas, a new one for us and I loved it. Tonight we'll be doing it again with the whole family to see what they think. I hadn't heard of Candlemas so I did a lot of reading and research to see how I wanted it to look for our clan. Some sites made it very religion based celebration but I like to see it as more nature-inspired. I really like what The School of Seasons taught about the tradition.
February 2 is one of the great cross-quarter days which make up the wheel of the year. It falls midway between the winter solstice and the spring equinox and in many traditions is considered the beginning of spring.
The promises of the return of the light and the renewal of life which were made at the winter solstice are now becoming manifest. It's the dawn of the year. It's the time when a woman who is pregnant begins showing. It's time to creep out of the hibernation of winter, cautiously, like the Ground Hog who supposedly emerges on this day to check his shadow. It's the time of germination. This is a traditional time for new beginnings.
At preschool today the kids enjoyed a special cake they made together at our snack time. Yes we all eat together every snack with real linens and some sweet thank-you songs.
Celebrating Candlemas
Candles and Christmas Greens
The main element of your decorating scheme for Candlemas is fairly obvious: candles. You can gather all the candles in your home in one room and light them from one central candle. Or place a candle in each window (but watch them carefully).
Candlemas is one of the traditional times for taking down Christmas decorations (Twelfth Night, on January 6th, is the other). If you are very careful (because they are tinder dry), you can burn them. Or, better yet, return them to the earth mother by using them for compost or mulch.
Certain foods are traditional for Candlemas, including crepes, pancakes and cakes, all grain-based foods. Pancakes and crepes are considered symbols of the sun because of their round shape and golden color.
If you have a fireplace, clean out your hearth and then light a new fire. Sit around the fire and reflect on your hopes for the coming year. What do you hope to accomplish? What are you passionate about? What seeds do you wish to plant? Discuss these ideas with others or write them down in a journal but make them concrete in some way so that on Lammas (August 2nd, the festival of the first harvest), you can look back to see what progress you’ve made.
Brigid is the goddess of creative inspiration as well as reproductive fertility. This is a good time for sharing creative work, or, if you don't think of yourself as especially creative, an idea that worked or a plan that materialized. Thank the Goddess for her inspiration, perhaps by dedicating a future work to her.
A gathering of candle in holders the older classes at Cedar Bridge School made to decorate their shrine.
Ry peeking through the Candlemas snow castle he made with his classmates this morning. The kids also made hand-dipped beeswax candles together. It's easy to do at home, find instructions at the Waldorf Connection web page.
Here at home we have been making coloured blocks of ice non-stop as Ryan has big plans for his igloo. I am making crepes for dinner and we collected mounds of little candles from around the house to light up our creation later tonight under the stars.
Happy Candlemas friends,
oxo
