A gentle story of Saint Lucia, and free Lucia paper dolls

 This story is posted here with permission by it’s author Tiziana Boccaletti. She maintains an Etsy store www.tizib.etsy.com, and is a contributor at Living Crafts Magazine (my favorite, ever!) Where you can get a free PDF instruction sheet to make a gorgeous, realistic felted rose ornament created by Tiziana, among other free patterns. http://www.livingcrafts.com/page/Free_Patterns  (have you seen the latest issue with the felt saint Lucia crowns?)  

Free St. Lucia paper dolls 

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SANTA LUCIA 

A story written by Tiziana Boccaletti  

Once upon a time, a long long time ago, in a far away land there lived a
young woman. Her name was Lucia and she liked spending time on the lake,
quietly listening to all the animals and the sounds the water made. The
swans knew her and liked her and would come feed from her hand during winter
time. Mama hawk would often salute her with a loud screech when circling in
the cool sky. She was a young girl like many others, she liked what
everybody else liked and enjoyed spending time with friends in the woods,
playing games and baking cakes with her mother. She always felt gratitude in
her heart for what she had and her good kind loving family but there was one
thing she always wished for.Lucia wished she could see with her eyes. Born
blind, she had learned at a young age to use her ears, her hands and her
heart to listen.    One day, after going for a long walk in the woods, she sat under a mighty
walnut tree and fell asleep. She dreamt many colorful dreams of faraway
places, unicorns, knights and palaces and in her dreams her eyes were as
bright and clear as one thousand candles. In her dream, an old good witch
from the castle told her that soon the light from her heart would travel to
her eyes and she would be able to see.  Lucia woke up and was at first startled by her dream but then she realized
in was time to go home. It was the darkest night of the year and she could
smell the sunset dampness coming from the green grass. On her way to town
she heard an old woman asking for help. Lucia immediately ran to her to see
what she might need. The old woman asked for help walking home. Lucia
immediately offered her arm and the two of them walked for a long time. They
had been climbing up a hill when a young boy approached them and asked for
food. Lucia was very hungry herself but she reached into her apron pocket
and offered him her red apple. He thanked her and devoured it right away.
Lucia was hungry herself but didn’t say anything..she was happy she could
help. They had almost reached their destination when Lucia heard the voice
of a man calling her. He was sitting by the side of the road and told her he
had been robbed of all his clothes. Lucia took her shawl off her shoulders
and gave it to him. It was her favorite shawl, the one that her grandma her
patiently knitted for her by the fire, but she didn’t mind.  When she asked the old woman if they had arrived yet, the old woman said :
“Yes, you have arrived”. Lucia asked: “Where are we?”. The old woman
replied: “Look up at the moon in the sky and you will know”. Lucia raised
her head and saw the full moon with her own eyes .She looked at the old
woman and realized it was indeed the witch she had dreamed of. The old witch
said: “The golden light from your good heart grew so strong that it had to
find a new home and that new home is your eyes.go and use the light to be of
service to others and light their way”. Lucia was overfilled with joy and
ran all the way home to tell her mother and all her friends.  And if things haven’t changed, they are still the same!           

St. Nicholas & christmas stories, poems, links

There is a wonderful website called Saint Nicholas Center.org . There  are so many wonderful resources that you can use for St. Nick day on December 6th, and the rest of the holiday season.

There is a great story by renowned Waldorf teacher Margaret Meyerkort called A Saint Nicholas Story.  There are also 6 others gentle stories in the Waldorf tradition by Christine Natale, one for each day from December 1st up to St. Nick day.

They have a ton of other stories, and things to do, just explore the site. I will continue to update this post as I find new things that may be of interest.

 

Upon his snow white steed
With wind and lightning speed
St. Nicholas leaves the sky
And comes a-riding by

The little hare hops nigh
And lifts his nose up high
The stag with pointing horn
Leaps over bush and thorn

And all the creatures dear
Are drawing quickly near
Before St. Nicholas bow
Their little heads so low

And we will learn a tune
Of sun and star and moon
And sing our happy lay
Sing on St. Nicholas Day!

—Traditional German

Martinmas links & info: Lanterns, poems, songs, & stories

Martinmas/Lantern Walk

St. Martin of Tours was born in 316 and died on November 11, 397. He is known as a deeply religious man who shared his cloak with a beggar and represents the attitude of brotherliness. According to old customs at this time, as the days become shorter and the stars appear earlier, children would walk with lanterns through the streets singing. As the world grows darker, the inner light of man wants to shine forth – from Shepherd Valley Waldorf School

Golden light is turning grey,
Mists begin to rule the day.
Bare the trees, their branches lift;
Clouds of dead leaves earthward drift.

Through the field the farmer goes,
Seeds of ripened corn he sows’
Trusts the earth will hold it warm,
Shelter it from cold and harm.

For he knows that warmth and light
Live there, hidden from our sight;
And beneath a sheltering wing,
Deep below, new life will spring!

Deep below, deep below, new life will spring!

Martinmas stories

Martin & the Poor Man- http://herbnites.tripod.com/waldorfinspiredschool/id15.html

A Golden Lantern- http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW3808.pdf

This is the story I will use for a mixed age group. I will tell my daughter the story of Saint Martin while we make our lanterns.

The Lantern

There was once a boy called George who had been outside in the garden all through the Summer running after the butterflies, jumping like a grasshopper, singing like a bird, and trying to catch the sunlight. One day when he was lying on his back in the meadow gazing up into the sun-filled sky, he said, “Dear Brother Sun, soon the Autumn winds will blow and wail, and Jack Frost will come and make us all freeze, and the nights will be long and cold.”  Brother Sun pushed the clouds aside and said, “Yes, it will be dark and cold. In the deep midwinter, warmth and light live deep within, hidden from sight. In the time of dark and cold, you will tend the Light Within.” “But,” said George, “How will I tend this Light when it’s dark everywhere around me?”“I will give you a spark of my last Autumn rays once you have made a little house for it, for this spark must be guarded well. It will light the way for you to tend the Light Within throughout the time of dark and cold.” And then Brother Sun once hid again behind a cloud. George went home and wondered how best he could make a little house for the spark of the sun. He took a thick piece of paper and painted a beautiful blue and yellow watercolor upon it. When it was dry, he cut windows into his painting. Then he placed colored tissue paper on the back of his watercolor – and – he formed it into a lantern. He took a candle and put it into the middle of his lantern. And, as it was growing dark, he went outside with it. George held the lantern up above him and said, “Brother Sun, I have made a little home for one of your golden sparks. Please may I have one? I will guard it well.” Then Brother Sun looked out from behind a cloud and said, “You have made a beautiful home. I shall give you one of my golden sparks.” And suddenly, George saw how the windows of his lantern were lit up, and as he looked into the lantern, he saw a spark happily dancing on top of the candle. Oh, how happy the light was in his lovely lantern! It shone and shone so brightly. “Thank you, Brother Sun,” George called out, “Thank you.” And he took his lantern and carried it carefully home singing:

 The sunlight fast is dwindling,

My little lamp needs kindling.

Its beam shines far in darkest night,

Dear Lantern, guard me with your light
~ from Autumn, Wynstones Press, originally by M Meyerkort and revised by L Sutter.

Martinmas lanterns

Paper mache globe lanterns http://maymomvt.blogspot.com/2007/11/making-lanterns-for-martinmas.html

turnip lanterns- http://resurrectionfern.typepad.com/resurrection_fern/2008/10/how-to-make-a-lantern-out-of-a-rhutabaga-or-turnip-a-seasonal-tutorial.html

water color lanterns- http://naturenest.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/watercolor-paper-lantern-tutorial/

glass jar lanterns-  http://ourhomeschooljourney.co.za/wordpress/142/how-to-make-a-lantern-for-waldorf-festivals-or-waldorf-inspired-gifts/

folded construction paper lantern (only for older childern) http://www.pacon.com/projects/PaperLanterns.htm

For 3 songs you can hear go to http://astorytellingofcrows.blogspot.com/

Aricles about Martinmas

http://chicmommyusa.com/martinmas-lantern-walk/

http://www.waldorfwithoutwalls.com/newsletter/39 -halloween & Martinmas

This weeks lessons: the Ojibwe

This weeks lessons focused on the Ojibwe people of the great lakes region. I could have easily taken a month or two on them. I began with the story of Turtle Island, modern day north america. I told this story http://www.gct3.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/creation_story.pdf . It was a wonderful transition story to use to create a bridge from old testament legends  into our native american block. The Ojibwe creation story of Turtle Island is similar to the Noah story in that the earth is flooded by the creator because people had become wicked. Instead of a chalkboard illustration I decided to do a watercolor. I wish I could have taken more time on it, but it served it’s purpose. My DD put the story in  her new native stories main lesson  book.

We learned about how the pre-contact Ojibwe lived. We learned about birch trees that grow where they live/d, and how the bark is removed in sheets and used to create shelters called wigwams, canoes to travel through the lakes on, and buckets for harvesting things. My DD put a paragraph about wigwams, and an illustration in her shelters main lesson book. I put an Ojibwe prayer on the board, and we recited it throughout the week.

We talked very briefly about wild rice, a staple of the Ojibwe. We will return to it when we do our small block on the grains.

We had a great time making a dome shaped hut from newspapers. This was the part of our lessons that was enjoyed the most. It reminded me of the dome shape of a wigwam. It was pretty simple to make, not to mention the bonus of it being absolutely free! You can find a great tutorial at pepper paints blog . Throw a lightweight sheet on, and you have a cosy little hide away ready for hours of play.

We worked on the number 8, and it’s times table through rhymes & tossing a beanbag.  Since it’s halloween we made a spider mobile, and put the 8 times table numbers of the spiders bodies.

We also learned the story of the dream catcher, and Ojibwe legend. We made a dream catcher from things we had around the house. We went outside, and cut some vines that were growing around a tree to make the hoop, and used hemp string for the web. I used a combination of this story & this story to make one smooth Dream Catcher story. 

I also checked out a few picture books about Ojibwe legends from the library.

Windigo’s Return- Great story about a monster from Ojibwe legend who eats people. It’s kind of scary, but has a humorous ending.

The Legend of The Lady Slipper-Beautiful tale about a brave girl who ventures into the night to save her people from a sickness that has stricken her entire village. Were were going to make mocassins in conjunction to this story, but ran out of time.

Ladder To The Sky- Another Ojibwe story with similarities to an Old testament legend. In this story the people lived in peace without sickness, or death, until someone disobeys the creator, and consequence ensues.

On friday we went to Brookgreen Gardens, about 30 minutes from our house. The most amazing trees east of the Redwood Forests are here at Brookgreen. If I were to move from here it would be the trees my heart would ache for.

The trees in the pics are magnificent by any standards, but are not the most amazing in the gardens. These were all in the native species zoo. My camera battery went dead before we got into the gardens, which are just completely enchanted. If you are ever near the mid-South Carolina coast, Brookgreen is a must see.

 

This weeks lessons: more apples

We are going to a music festival tomorrow , so this weeks lessons were very short & sweet. Last week we learned how to preserve apples by drying. This week we sauced 1/2 bushel, and learned that canning was another way to preserve the harvest.   I made up an apple running form & we used this for a form drawing lesson.  After she had practiced the form my daughter copied her version into her farming book along with the 3 ways of preserving we learned about.

She really liked the apple running form, and asked me if she could have some time to make up some on her own. This was her idea.

She put the poem we were learning into her poems book. This is what happened to my Eden drawing. I transformed it into a background for the poem.

 

2 stories I told during these lessons were

Why Apples Have Stars Within &

Johnny Appleseed- I really loved this version

Today we prepared for our trip. We like to take most of our food. Being vegetarian can be difficult when traveling, and you can end up “junking out”. My daughter and I made the most delicious energy balls from a recipe we found on Dr. Ben Kim’s blog. I have found his blog wonderful for healthy recipes & articles. These have only 3 ingredients, pecans, dates, & cocoa. I added some spirulina powder to ours. So yummy, healthy, and easy to make.

This weeks lessons:language & apples

This week we began with Adam naming the animals which was turned into a lesson on naming words & doing words (nouns & verbs). This was inspired by Dorothy Herrer”s “An English Manual”. We had been including  the poems about animals that we found in “Wee Sing & Pretend” by Susan Nipp into our circle time, along with the song “Man Gave Names to All the Animals” by Bob Dylan. The entire animals poem can be seen in the book preview on amazon. The link will take you there. I use this book & cd set for many circle time activities.  The Bob Dylan song can be heard on YouTube using the link.  For the lesson I named an anima & wrote it on the board & she acted out what the animal did. I then wrote it’s action on the board. We then talked about the helper words like “A” , “An” and “the”.  She put what we had written on the board in her English book.

 Tuesday kicked off Michaelmas, and we went to the beach with friends to fly kites. I posted about that in the previous post. I told the kids the story of  “Nkosnati & the Dragon”. This one is appropriate for mixed ages. I did change the story to suit the seasons here.

Wednesday we made our dragon bread.  He puffed up so big that I didn’t have a platter to fit him on. We had to cut him up on the bread board. We also collected some wild flowers that were growing by the roadside for our table.

 

We continued with Old Testament legends with Adam & Eve having to make their own way “by the sweat of their brow” on earth. This actually worked out perfect for this week of Michaelmas. In one of the books I am using for stories “Clouds of Glory”, Michael brings Adam & Eve seeds & teaches them how to break apart the ground, remove the stones, and plant the seeds so that they can grow their own garden & feed themselves.  I love  this book for stories.  In this book the author also presents Shekina, gods  earthly presence. Shekina is female. We continued the english lessons with our weekly silly sentence for spelling practice, and an exercise from the Dorothy Herrer book. I wrote several sentences on the board without capitalization or punctuation, and then had my daughter place periods, and capitals  in the right spots. After that she was to underline the naming words in purple & the doing words in red. Before this exercise we talked about 4 things every sentence must have.. A capital letter to begin, punctuation in the end, a naming word & a doing word. I had her put this into her english book along with 2 sentences that contained those 4 things.

 

 

After this we moved onto the stories about Cain & Abel. More really difficult stuff. Honestly, I did not feel good about telling these stories. What is the lesson to be had from it? I have mulled this over & over. Is it that when we do not control our anger, bad things can happen to us & others? Is it that Cain did something horrendous, and is punished severely, but still is given the love & protection of god as he wanders? I really don’t know if this translates to a 8 or 9 year old. I have long been a student of world mythologies, and I can understand what the general understanding of this myth is in academic circles, but what Steiner sees is different.  I can clearly see that this is a story made by a herding people (the Israelites) to denigrate an agrarian culture (the Canaanites) prior to invading them. They are prefered by god over the farmers they are trying to take over, and this myth would have lended some sort of justification of what they perceived to be their rightful destiny. It’s hard for me to present this story knowing what I know about the history & why these stories were really created.It’s hard to keep these truths from her, especially when the questions that arise from the telling just keep coming and coming.  For now I suppose I have to trust the waldorf curriculum as they have been right about just about everything else up to this point.  

Thursday we had our usual swim lessons, and then our weekly homeschool group playdate, and thank goodness because we needed a break. On Friday we took a break form the old testament legends, and took up our farming work again. We did this for 2 reasons. One is we have a bushel of apples that has to be preserved before they spoil, and this needs to be worked into our lessons, and another reason is we are leaving on Wednesday for a vacation. I do not want to start on the sons of Cain, and Noah until we get back. These stories are going to springboard us into our shelters block. I did not want them to be interrupted by or made to be less important because we are trying to prepare for our trip while these lessons are going on.

So, on Friday we worked on apples. I told a brief story about the farming family from our container story, and what they do in fall. We talked about ways to preserve apples. I told my daughter a story we tell every year that she loves called “The Little Red House”. We wrote a summary on the board, and I had her point out the naming words & doing words in the sentences. She put what we wrote on the board in her farming main lesson book.

 We learned one way to preserve apples is by drying them. We peeled & sliced apples and put then on dowel rods to dry.  We strung the rods together & made an old fashioned apple ladder. Monday we are going to continue this and make applesauce. We save all cores & peels & juice them. You get about a cup of juice for every 3 or 4 apples worth of peels & cores. The pulp from the juice we feed to our chickens so that not one bit of our apples are wasted.

 

We also made some white wool balls with stones in the center for weight. We are going to dye them this weekend with the dye bath we made from goldenrod. I will post more on that later.

The Little Red House: an apple story

The Little Red House

There was once upon a time a little boy who was tired of all his toys and, tired of all his play.  ”What shall I do ?” He asked his mother.  And  his mother, who always knew beautiful things for little boys to do, said, ” You shall go on a journey and find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star inside.”         

This really made the little boy wonder. Usually his mother had good ideas, but his thought that this one was very strange. “Which way shall I go?” He asked his mother. “I don’t know where to find a little red house with no doors and no window .”  “Go down the lane past the farmer’s house and over the hill,” said his mother, “and then hurry back as soon as you can and tell me all about your journey.”         

So the little boy put on his cap and his jacket and started out. He had not gone very far down the lane when he came to a merry little girl dancing in the sunshine. Her cheeks were like pink blooms petals and she was singing like a robin. “Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and no windows and a star in inside?” asked the little boy. The little girl laughed, “Ask my father, the farmer,”  she said. “Perhaps he knows.”        

 So the little boy went on until he came to the great brown barn were the farmer kept barrel of fat potatoes and baskets of yellow squashes and golden pumpkins. The farmer himself stood in the doorway looking out over the green pastures and yellow grain fields. “Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and no windows  and a star inside?” asked the little boy of the farmer. The farmer laughed too. “I lived a great many years and I never saw one.” He chuckled, “But ask Granny who lives at the foot of the hill. She knows how to  make molasses, taffy and popcorn balls, and red mitten! Perhaps she can direct you.”        

 So the little boy went on farther still, until he came to the Granny, sitting in her pretty garden of herbs and marigolds. She was wrinkled as a walnut and as smiling as the sunshine. “Please, Dear Granny,” said the little boy. “Where shall I find a little red house with no doors and no windows  and a star inside?”

         Granny was knitting a red mitten, and when she heard the little boy’s question, she laughed so cheerily that the wool ball rolled of her lap and down the little pebbly path. “I should like to find that little house myself,” she chuckled. ” I would be warm when the frosty night comes and the starlight would be prettier than a candle. But ask the wind who blows about so much and listens at all the chimneys. Perhaps the wind can direct you.”        

 So the little boy took off his cap and tipped it politely to the Granny and went on up the hill rather sorrowfully. He wondered if his mother, who usually knew almost everything had perhaps made a mistake. The wind was coming down the hill as the little boy climbed up. As they met, the wind turned about  and went along, singing  beside the little boy. It whistled in his ear, and pushed him and dropped a pretty leaf into his hand. “I wonder,” thought the little boy, after they had gone along together for awhile, “if the wind could  help me find a little red house with no doors and no windows a star inside.”         

The wind cannot speak in our words, but it went singing ahead of the little boy until it came to an orchard. There it climbed up in the apple tree and shook the branches. When the little boy climbed up, there at his feet lay a great rosy apple. The little boy picked the apple. It was as much as his two hands could hold. It was red as the sun had been able to paint it, and the thick brown stem stood up as straight as a chimney, and it had no doors and no windows. Was there a star inside?  

The little boy called to the wind, “Thank you,” and the wind whistled back, “You’re welcome.”  Then the little boy gave the apple to his mother.  His mother took a knife (AT THIS POINT , START CUTTING AN APPLE CROSSWISE) and cut the apple through the center.  Oh, how wonderful! There inside the apple, lay a star holding brown seeds.         

“It is too wonderful to eat without looking at the star, isn’t it?” the little boy said to his mother. “Yes indeed,” answered his mother. 

Fish & Birds on the 5th day

We finished up our week with the 5th day of creation. We heard the story, had a discussion about fish and how they use their swim bladder to go up & down, and then did 2 paintings. One was of the sea, and the other the sky. I made a little poem to go with the 5th day. I think I will have my daughter help make other rhymes for the other days, and we will put them in our book when we finish.

In the watery depths of the deep blue sea

a  shimmering rainbow of fish came to be

from the soft, green earth to the pale blue sky

creatures of wings, and feathers did fly

from great flightless birds to tiny crustaceans

all came to be on the 5th day of creation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  After our lesson was over we headed out for a field trip to our local aquarium to look at the creatures from the sea. These fish are from the Indo-Pacific region, and are mostly venomous, using razor-like barbs on their dorsal fins & tails to sting when they are threatened.

On the wall at the entrance, a quote by Goethe was displayed.

I managed to catch a spectacular shot of my favorite fish, the 9 year old Azure fish. This fish is somewhat elusive, and sassy, but  full of fun.

Jelly fish always look neat. They have no brains. They just go with the flow. The movements they make are caused by electrical pulses. They have  a very primitive nervous sytem.

I don’t know what these guys are called, but they like to travel in a school.

 

Besides the aquarium we did celebrate Rosh Hashana by making circular challah, and eating honeyed apples.

This morning we took some left over bread from last night’s dinner, and cast bits of it into the river. This casting away is called Tashlikh, and is meant  to symbolize the washing away of any misdeeds, mistakes, or unkind words from the old year.  I thought we should focus more on the future year rather than the past, and cast away any negative things, but also wish for things we would like to improve  apon this year. I focused on patience. I need more of it.

I will be back with a post on the book we create from the paintings of our  lessons on the Hebrew 7 days of creation.

Fox fairies, tangrams, and drawing: a summer math lesson

 

It’s been a while since I posted anything on this blog. I promise it’s not an “abandoned blog”. I plan on posting lots of stuff when the new school year picks up in fall.  We have been enjoying a summer of activity. Swim lessons, the library, the state park, picking fruits & vegtables & preserving them, going to the theater, and the beach. We just haven’t done much  that would be worth putting on this blog.

Today we did a fun tangram math lesson. Tangrams are a chinese puzzle game made from a square broken into 7 pieces which can be arranged in endless ways to create pictures.  I thought I would share our lesson which is based on a book by Ann Tompert called “Grandfather Tang’s Story. The book begins with a grandfather & his grandchild taking a walk & resting under a tree. The grandfather pulls a tangram set from his pocket & begins to tell the little girl a story with them. This ties in wonderfully with  waldorf based

Summer dragonfly craft & story

I found this cute & simple tutorial for a dragonfly mobile using clothespins. They use stiffened fabric for the wings, but some nice paper would work as well. Maybe leftover watercolor paintings?  When I saw this it reminded me of a beautiful story about how the dragonfly came to be. In the story many creatures were complaining to the creator about a feature they did not like. The creature took these features away, and from them crafted the dragonfly.  You can find the story below.

 

NOT QUITE RIGHT — a Rumanian folktale

Back in the beginning when the world was still new and smelled fresh, the Creator was taking a well-deserved rest. He leaned back under a tall tree and noticed that everything he saw was beautiful. He was pleased with his work.

But back then, even as now, there were some individuals who were never happy with how they looked. The Creator had closed his eyes to catch a quick nap but he could feel someone staring at him. You know what it’s like when that happens. You feel the tickle of a gaze that will not go away. He opened his eyes to see a green frog which had hopped out of the water to land by his foot.