Date: Monday, December 7, 2020 @ TBC
Location: Nant-y-Cwm School
The Advent Spiral symbolises the path that we take at this time of year, a journey to an inner place, where we can find a light to carry back into the world to help us through the darkness.
The tradition began in the 1920s when a curative nurse brought it into a group home dedicated to the care of children with disabilities. She had been inspired by the custom from long ago in Bavaria, where farmers would bring moss and twigs into their homes and fashion a garden on a table, which was lit with candles in apples. For them it was an expression of an old parable of Paradise. Later the festival was brought to Waldorf Schools all over the world. Evergreen boughs (a symbol of life everlasting) are placed in a spiral form on the floor with a large candle in its center. The room is darkened and the mood is peaceful. One at a time each child walks into the spiral with a lantern in which sits an unlit candle. They walk make their way to the spiral’s centre where they find the large lighted candle and from it light their own. They place their candle somewhere along the spiral’s path and then they walk their way back to their seat. The event happens during the school day and parents will not be able to attend this year.