The Four Lights of Advent: Weaving Waldorf Traditions into our Holiday Season
As the days grow shorter and darker here in New England, I appreciate traditions that bring warmth and light into our home. I’ve fallen in love with the magic that the Waldorf philosophy brings into our home, and I love how these traditions can be woven into any home, whether religious, spiritual, or secular. I like to think of the Waldorf philosophy as a framework rather than a mold- you can make it your own. These Advent traditions center around the light- carrying light in the darkness, sharing our inner light, and connecting with the light of the natural world.
We’re basing our Advent celebration around the following verse by Rudolf Steiner:
🌟 The Four Lights of Advent 🌟
The first light of Advent is the light of stones—
The light that shines in crystals, in seashells, and in bones.
The second light of Advent is the light of plants—
Green plants that reach up to the sun and in the breezes dance.
The third light of Advent is the light of beasts—
That shines in all creatures, in greatest and in least.
The fourth light of Advent is the human light—
The light of hope and of thought, to know and do what’s right.
I don’t teach my daughter that there’s any spiritual or natural hierarchy as we explore these kingdoms- instead, I teach that we’re all equally important on earth, and we all have our own unique gifts to share.
In Waldorf schools, Advent is often celebrated with a spiral walk, symbolizing carrying and sharing our light in the darkness, the cycle of renewal, and our journeys to find our own inner light. We won’t be doing a spiral walk this year, but we’ll bring the symbolism of the spiral into our home by creating a salt-dough Advent spiral for our seasonal table.
For the past couple of years, we’ve enjoyed reading one line of the Four Lights of Advent verse each Sunday of the season, lighting a candle, and decorating our seasonal table to honor the kingdom highlighted in that week’s verse.
This year, we’re keeping that tradition while adding something new: themed activities for each week, which I’ll be weaving into our Advent calendar.
Instead of daily trinkets or candies, this year our calendar will hold simple activity cards for each day, and just one small gift each week.
The first year I made an Advent calendar, my daughter was two, and I tucked a small gift into each pocket. I quickly learned that a daily gift, even a tiny one, was too overwhelming! For the past two years, we’ve done more activities than gifts in our Advent calendar, which has been so much better for all of us.
Each week will include:
✨ 6 activities / crafts (one of which will be a handmade gift to give)
🎁 1 small gift
We also have some themed books for each week, and a recipe to make together.
Below you’ll find links to each week of themed activities (coming soon):
Week One: Minerals
Week Two: Plants
Week Three: Animals
Week Three: Humankind
I’d love to hear about your holiday season traditions in the comments!