a Michaelmas celebration

Between several days of relentless rain, the sun peeked out just in time on Sunday to shine warmth down on our community Michaelmas celebration.  The children were eager to test their courage and strength and immediately started a tug of war game.

There was jousting and balancing as the community members arrived,

and cute babies loitered about the lawn.

A sharing of harvest veggies began our celebration as many hands helped to make light work in the chopping of vegetables for our harvest stew.

We listened to a bread story.

And each received a scoop of the dough to form into a harvest bun.

The smaller children enjoyed making kites.

And many of the children chose capes to suit their needs.

Soon the children began to dress in costume to perform the play, Saint George and the Dragon.

{the dragon's lair}

{the castle, townfolk - working in the gardens, and narrators}

{the dragon, terrorizing the townfolk by stealing sheep}

{St. George fighting the dragon}

We ended our community celebration with a Michaelmas circle, a song of St. Michael and the Russian fairytale of the turnip.

{pulling the turnip}

Once our circle was complete, we blessed our meal and ate the harvest stew, dragon bread (completely orchestrated by the older children this year), and harvest loaves.

I so enjoy watching this celebration morph and grow, year after year, and I feel blessed that my children can participate and blossom in this magical community.