May Faire—Reawaken, Reconnect & Rejoice!

On May 14th we joyously celebrated the return of the sun to our Northern climate with a public festival full of dancing, nature-inspired crafts, games, and live music at our annual May Faire! Da Vinci Waldorf School celebrates many festivals throughout the year, each full of meaning and symbolism, connecting us to Mother Nature and to a path of personal and collective growth.

Through May Faire we have the opportunity to reconnect with our community, rejoice at the coming growing season, and celebrate the promise of coming warmth and sunshine. Springtime brings with it an opening of the heart—a shift from the inward focus of winter toward reconnection with friends and neighbors we may have lost touch with through the cold months. We come together with a feeling of new beginning in our hearts, and we call on Mother Nature to reawaken.

May Faire has its roots in pre-Christian Europe, in agrarian societies who were completely dependent on the success of their crops. These people from long ago gathered together for the same purpose we gather together now, and they enjoyed similar rituals of awakening Mother Earth. May Faire offers us a connection to these natural rhythms and ancient practices. The Maypole Dance and the Sword Dance have been performed for centuries at May festivals throughout Europe, and the knowledge of these dances has been passed down and maintained—in part by the annual celebrations of Waldorf schools all over the world. In these busy modern times our daily lives often take us away from connection to nature, the gentle change of seasons, and the cycles of Mother Earth. May Faire allows us to ground ourselves in the natural world for a while, and revel in the beauty that surrounds us.

May Faire culminates with the youngest children dancing in a circle around the Maypole, streaming ribbons of all colors in their hands, tickling the earth with their footsteps. They weave their ribbons into a rainbow of colors, symbolizing our renewed connection to each other as we, in turn, weave a stronger, healthier community. After the children dance the Maypole, the older children demonstrate the graceful Sword Dance, moving in harmony and unity.

We love May Faire for the joy of watching our children dance, for the lazy afternoon chatting with friends, for the shouts of joy coming from children enjoying the outdoors all around us, and for the sense of renewed commitment to our community. This year we hope May Faire helped you reconnect with old friends, and meet new ones. Thank you for joining us for this special celebration! We hope you enjoyed connecting with Mother Nature, with the promise the changing season brings, and with your friends and neighbors in the community that we call Da Vinci Waldorf School!

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