we were inspired to make a harvest loaf by eva's michaelmas preparations that she did with her children last year. the story is found in the book all year round. to make the harvest loaf, one sets out all the ingredients on the table and then tells the story. in the bowls above are whole spelt flour, a little white sugar mixed with sea salt, raisins, an egg yolk and sunflower seeds mixed with sesame seeds.
the dragon comes to a very happy village of hardworking people and wrecks havoc by lashing his tail, destroying homes and scaring everyone. the plants cannot grow and snow and ice replace the green growth of the fields. the people are frozen in a land of ice.
st. michael looks down from heaven and has compassion on the village. he stretches forth his right hand and grabs stars from the firmament (the raisins or currants). he flings them down onto the village. he stretches forth his left hand and plucks the golden sun rays and flings them down also (the egg yolk). the stars become lumps of iron on the earth and settle deep into the ground. the sungold warms the earth and the people so that the blood flows in their limbs once again and they can work. they plow and sow seeds (the sunflower and sesame seeds). st. michael encourages the people to harvest the grain that grows and grind it into flour . .
knead it . .
and make it into a loaf of bread that can be set in the middle of the table and shared with friends. this is the harvest loaf.
we also brought out our papers with our aspirations for personal growth this school year and contemplated at how we were doing with them.
it's a reminder that every day is a new beginning . . 
hmmm . . !
later on in the afternoon, chanda and i had an interesting visitor . .
korrina returned from her costume sale with a $20 bag stuffed with . . costumes! one of them was this amazing jedi robe. the label on it says "metropolitan opera!"
red hair?
tassels.
and later in the day chanda worked on her skirt. since it was rosh hashanah, she didn't have chorus at her music school.
this is the material we picked up from the fabric store for the bodice of her costume. we went uptown in-between harvest loaf risings!
a quiet tea . .
We also made the harvest loaf again (though ours was gluten-free) and attended the Michaelmas celebration at the Waldorf School. I will post pictures hopefully later. Right now Jonathan and Charlotte need to leave for ballet. We are having a discussion if they can ride their bikes or not -- it will be dark when ballet is over, they don't have any lights on their bikes, and the street lights are broken on our street right now.
ReplyDeleteYour loaf looks very delicious. What a great idea to review the little aspirations.
The brother of a friend of mine once got a similar bag of clothing from the theater in Würzburg. One of the costumes was an old-fashioned 18th century coat. He like it so much that he wore it every day. He was kind of different anyway, but the coat was too funny.
hello eva! it's so nice that you can join in with the michaelmas celebration at your local waldorf school. in that regard i wish things were more relaxed around here!
ReplyDeletewe don't have lights on our bikes, either! we really need to get them. sometimes, these little errands are put off for too long!
i wish some of our street lights would break! we have too too many.
your friend would fit in well in nyc!
What a beautiful story! Never celebrated michaelmas in any way. Where in the world does the story come from?
ReplyDeleteThe costumes are sooooo nice...... I didn't recognize the jedi, but thought "trick or treat"!
hi christine, the story is from a book called _all year round_ by ann druitt (published by lifeways, a waldorf community publishing company). and, yes, i think korrina is planning to wear the jedi robe on halloween :)
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