Wild Traditions Welcoming Spring at Little Lions Waldorf Daycare By Julia Prinselaar
One of my earliest childhood memories takes place in daycare when I was about three years old. It was around the first of May, and our group at Little Lions Waldorf Daycare was preparing to sing songs and dance around the Maypole to welcome the arrival of spring. Each of us children stood in a circle holding a colored ribbon in our hands, and together we walked in unison to wrap the ribbon around the pole. Details of the day beyond that are vague, but the memory leaves me with feelings of warmth, comfort and nostalgia. It serves as my first introduction to a tradition that traces its roots to European folklore and welcomes the birth and fertility of a new season. Three decades later, Little Lions continues to celebrate the May Day festival— known as Beltane in Celtic lands—one of several that mark significant events throughout the seasonal calendar. Coincidentally, I spoke with Marilyn Grudniski, Little Lions’ former CEO and current director of training, shortly after she spent a day with daycare staff to rehearse the songs, dances and customs of May Day at the nursery. The Maypole may have originally been a living tree, but for centuries in countries like Germany, England and Sweden, people have raised a decorated pole. Colored ribbons and garland would hang from the top of the pole, and historically women sang songs and wove the ribbon in various patterns. Waldorf teachings are integrated into children’s activities through traditional games, crafts, storytelling, singing, domestic tasks, and general care for the environment and one another. “We pick up some of these festivals, some of the ancient ones, to bring people together,” says Grudniski. “The festivals are events of community. We are trying to build this nest around the children and to make that strong. And so we find these reasons to get together and have a nice time, for the parents to mingle and get to know each other, and for us to have a chance to support them in some way.” What began as an extension of the Grade 12 Family Studies program at a local high school in 1984 has expanded into about a dozen childcare locations across Thunder Bay. Little Lions Waldorf Daycare and Kindergarten was the first Waldorf Early 48
MAY 2018
NORTHERN WILDS
The Maypole may have originally been a living tree, but for centuries in countries like Germany, England and Sweden, people have raised a decorated pole. | STOCK Childhood Centre in North America, and is part of a global network of schools originating from post-WWI Germany that follow the teaching principles created by Rudolf Steiner. “[Steiner] was approached by the manager of the Waldorf-Astoria cigarette factory and was asked to create a system of education that would create citizens who were incapable of making war. He had seen this devastation over four years in WWI, and he didn’t ever want to see that in his country again. So that’s what we have today,” Grudniski tells me. Central aspects of the Waldorf philosophy include the cultivation of imagination and creativity, belief in the free will of an individual, unstructured play, and bringing rhythm into a child’s life, she says. “We know that’s very important for young children. And with that rhythm— the rhythm of the day that we try to keep consistent for children, the rhythm of the week, the rhythm of the year—you know what’s coming next. There’s a pattern, and children can feel really comfortable with a pattern because they know what’s coming up. So living with the cycle of the year, giving that form, that shape to the year, and living with what we see outdoors and what’s around us, we’re working with that.”
An emerging crisis of a generation, WWI catalyzed the beginnings of peaceful early childhood education in Germany, and soon spread throughout Europe. Today, distractions of the digital age and the speed of information are a primary challenge for younger generations. When I see children playing games on a screen that simulate cooking or baking for instance, I wonder how it compares to the imagination and creativity involved in physically carrying out that task. Choosing different ingredients and playing with quantities versus using predictable foods and controlled amounts. Where are the options to be experimental, and to connect a child’s senses to the activity at hand? Questions like these come up routinely as part of Waldorf training, says Grudniski. “I don’t think there’s any other profession in the world where we have the ability to shape someone’s destiny,” says Grudniski in reference to early childhood education. “We have such power, really. You can make or break a child—it’s really critical work that we’re doing. We really have to be very careful.”
Little Lions Waldorf Daycare celebrates May Day, known as Beltane in Celtic lands. Children stand in a circle, each holding a colored ribbon, and walk in unison to wrap the ribbon around the pole. | STOCK