October! One of my favorite months of the year! Here in the States we are gearing up for cooler weather, the leaves on the trees changing colors and crunching under our feet, and preparations for Halloween, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day are underway!
How will you celebrate this month in your homeschool?
One thing to consider is that this is the time to think about bringing “the light” inside as the days grow longer, darker and colder. “Jack O’ Lanterns” and other kinds of lanterns are popular this time of year, as are crafts and cooking and baking surrounding the Fall Harvest.
Focusing on what the animals and plants are doing this time of year in song, verse and story is natural, and to include the role of those little beings, the gnomes and the dwarves, who help carry lanterns and bring the little animals to Mother Earth. There are also many wonderful opportunities to tell stories about the leaves changing and falling off the trees and the seeds going to sleep for Winter.
There is an interesting article entitled, “A Children’s Halloween” by Patrice Keats in the pink paperback book, “An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten” in which she discusses the approach in her classroom to Hallow’s Eve. She writes in this article,
“I wondered for a long time if it was even appropriate to recognize the festival, as the age of kindergarten demands the acknowledgement of goodness, security and protection. To dress up, one changes one’s identity. Young children, who are striving towards their own identity, need to seek the identity of those that are worthy of imitation. To dress up in the costume and mask of the very ones that are evil or destructive to childhood such as Ninja Turtles and He-man seemed contrary to our very purpose in the kindergarten.”
She goes on to write how she set up a successful fall festival for Halloween.
Here is a link to a Waldorf newsletter from 1978 describing a Halloween festival of lantern lighting and the sharing of harvest foods: (you will have to scroll down): http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Clearing%20House/Spring%201978b.pdf
Perhaps this will spark some ideas for your own festivities!
All Saints Day used to be an opportunity to honor saintly people and to look forward to the upcoming festivals of saints such as Martinmas on November 11 and Saint Nicholas on December 6th.
Then, on November 2, All Souls Day, was an opportunity to remember dead family members and friends. People would pray to those who had passed on to ask for blessings. Usually food was left out overnight for the visiting spirits of this time ( soul cakes are traditional!).
Happy planning, and many blessings to you all.
Carrie
The Parenting Passageway 
Hi Carrie,
I’ve been visiting your blog for a long time and wanted to thank you for keeping it! We aren’t a Waldorf family, but I love learning about it and implementing some Waldorf ideas into our home life (rhythm, celebrating feasts and festivals, natural playthings, calm home, etc) . Thanks especially for the post on Halloween. My husband and I don’t want our family to celebrate it and have decided to come up with a fun alternative for our children. The hard part is explaining it to others without offending… your post is one that will help me articulate my feelings to others in a positive way! Thanks!
Good luck with the remainder of your pregnancy!!
Thank you for being a reader of this blog!!
Peace,
Carrie
Hi Carrie,
Thanks for shedding some light on Halloween and the Waldorf family. We have our little one in Waldorf preschool right now so I’m not concerned about this year but still wondered about the Waldorf perspective on this for future.
Now, I’ll search around for the Waldorf perspective on Santa..and the holidays.
See you again soon
Saint Nicholas Day is celebrated in many schools; I would talk to your individual school as each one can be a bit different.
Here is a post on Winter festivals: https://theparentingpassageway.com/2008/12/07/advent-and-other-winter-celebrations-within-the-waldorf-home/
thank you for this post and thanks for sharing the waldorf perspective. Much appreciated.
Grace,
Look for another post soon….I am really into All Saints and All Souls Day this year as part of my Anglican faith..
🙂
Many blessings,
Carrie
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Thank you for this post. It really spoke to me this year when I was planning our family celebrations… I’ve blogged here (and linked to you) if you’d like to see:
http://ohbabyo.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/handmade-halloween/
Take Care,
Carrie
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Hi,
Thanks for your thoughts that are really inspiring. I think it would be interesting to celebrate Halloween like a celtic festival. After all, Steiner was very interested in past ways, and pre-christian ones. Considering we are entering the dark period of the year, keeping the light of the lantern in our heart. Telling stories about Fairies coming home in the Mother Earth’s heart.
Halloween before being the feast of death, horror and money, was a passage time, Samhain.
My under 7 children love it and see it as a very joyful moment ;-).
Best French regards,
Cassandre
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Hello! I’m so glad I found your site—really appreciate the thoughts and resources here. In the post above, you mention a book by Patrice Keats, but I don’t see anything between the quotation marks. It looks like this:
There is an interesting article entitled, “” by Patrice Keats in the pink paperback book, “” in which she discusses the approach in her classroom to Hallow’s Eve. She writes in this article,
“
She goes on to write how she set up a successful fall festival for Halloween.
Do you have an updated link, or the title of the book?
I love the idea of stories about fairy folk and gnomes helping the little animals to the safety of Mother Earth for the winter—please share any sources for these autumn tales if you have them! (My own googling is turning up more craft projects than stories.)
Thank you again for sharing here.
— Claire in NYC
There is an interesting article entitled, “A Children’s Halloween” by Patrice Keats in the pink paperback book, “An Overview of the Waldorf Kindergarten” in which she discusses the approach in her classroom to Hallow’s Eve. She writes in this article,
“I wondered for a long time if it was even appropriate to recognize the festival, as the age of kindergarten demands the acknowledgement of goodness, security and protection. To dress up, one changes one’s identity. Young children, who are striving towards their own identity, need to seek the identity of those that are worthy of imitation. To dress up in the costume and mask of the very ones that are evil or destructive to childhood such as Ninja Turtles and He-man seemed contrary to our very purpose in the kindergarten.”
She goes on to write how she set up a successful fall festival for Halloween.
I hope that fills in the blanks a little for you! I don’t have an updated link…. Autumn Tales please refer to the newsletters and books by Juniper Tree Puppetry! Suzanne Down is AMAZING. – Hope that helps, Carrie
This is helpful, Carrie, thank you! Patrice Keats’ book must be out of print (I can’t seem to find it anywhere on the internet), but I will definitely check out Juniper Tree Puppetry. Thank you again!
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Hi! Thank you for this article about Waldorf and Halloween. I would really love to read the information from 1978, but the link does not go anywhere. Is there a way to fix the link or to copy/paste the info into your post?
Thanks so much!
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