Last Friday, Orchard Valley celebrated Michaelmas, a festival dedicated to human striving and to transcending the "dragon" of our time. Rudolph Steiner saw this ancient festival as promoting inner strength and initiative. The image of Michael piercing the darkness with his sword of light and transforming the dragon's fire into inspired deeds is a very real picture of the soul's task at this time of year. It celebrates "the human struggle of good over evil, of enthusiasm and devotion over indolence and cynicism."
The grades classes spent the early afternoon pressing cider from the bursting orchard, making vegetable soup, and baking apple crisp—for 150 people! The grades pageant was followed by a warm community gathering—the kind that reminds you how important it is to come together on this beautiful campus and revel in the enthusiasm and devotion of the teachers and staff, in the hard work of the families who give so many volunteer hours, and in the joy of the children who call Orchard Valley “my school.”
