May Day Celebration

I am just bursting with joy today as I reflect on the amazing amount of fun that we had yesterday sharing in the celebration of May Day and the welcoming of Spring with a nearby Waldorf school that so generously allowed us to join in with their families.

We had never been to the park that we were all to meet at and I wasn't quite sure what to expect as we made our way down a gravel path leading behind the industrial buildings along the roadside. Not far along we crossed a wooden bridge with a small creek running below it and just beyond was a wide open field surrounded by forest.

It was as if we had stepped out of the city and directly into a country field as the surrounding brush and trees closed out all signs of the bustling streets beyond.

  

There were colorful blankets placed around the field with a cluster of children and parents in the center busily working together creating flower wreaths to be worn in their hair. The children and I found strings of ivy that had been cut into long lengths just perfect for creating the sturdy bases of our wreaths and we settled on a rainbow colored blanket to weave our ivy and flowers into wonderful floral creations to wear :)

It was so cute to see all of the little ones running around and playing in the sunshine with their flower crowns on and as everyone finished up we joined in a large circle around the May pole to get started. The littlest children in kindergarten were first as they sang and weaved around one another, sometimes into each other, but so bright were their faces as they performed what they had learned for the special day.

As each group of children took turns skipping around the May pole and winding up the ribbons in different patterns it was finally time for any visitors or parents with tots to join in and my little guy in the photo above was beyond excited as he had thought he wasn't going to get a turn *grin*.

My oldest son even took part in one of the rounds with his crown of flowers upon his head :) 

He's 13 years old and growing up so quickly but I'm so thankful that he still enjoys joining in with the younger two and has fun doing it.  

When all of the children had taken a turn around the May pole it was time for just the adults to try something a little trickier. We were all numbered either a '1' or a '2' and then both groups moved in different directions around the pole as we weaved over and under one another as the waldorf teachers sang White Coral Bells. What a challenge that proved to be *grin*. Once in a while there was a little mix up but we all giggled and smiled as we fudged through it while creating a lovely braid down the May pole.

With the festivities winding up for the afternoon we shared a lovely snack of fresh fruits and veggies, raw brownies and other goodies and made our way back home where the children have been talking about it ever since :)

Hugs,

Rosina

Weaving Cedar Bark

Earlier this week the kids and I had a chance to participate in one of the many fantastic homeschool programs that a nearby museum offers. This class was particularly exciting because we were going to learn how to weave a mat using red cedar bark. So cool!

The above photo shows a coil of bark that had been harvested from cedar trees only minutes from where we live. Members from the museum went out into the forest with a first nations guide and he showed them exactly how to harvest the bark from living cedar trees without damaging them. They had a photo slide for us to view and the fellow said a little prayer/blessing to the cedar tree before cutting into the bark and then they pulled strips of bark off of the tree in giant lengths reaching from the base of the trunk all the way upwards. Once the bark was pulled from the tree they then separated the softer in bark from the rough outer bark and the inner portion was what we worked with :)

When we arrived there were strips of the bark that had been soaked for a couple of days to soften them and make them pliable for weaving waiting for us on the tables.



We started with a very basic basket weave pattern of just weaving the strips in and out of each other while alternating the pattern so it looked like a checker board.



As soon as all of the pieces had been woven we started to work the ends in by flipping them over and weaving them into the opposite sides. It looked really simple when we were shown how to do it but when it was time to do it ourselves you really had to pay attention to which way you flipped the ends because one wrong move and you muddled your pattern *grin*.

Here are two of the little woven mats the children made. As you can see there were a few little boo boos where the pattern got a little mixed up :)

We all had so much fun and now I'm tempted to try pulling some of the bark off of a few of the cedar trees we have here on our property *grin*. I think I'm supposed to wait until spring though so that will give me a little more time to find out exactly how to do it so that I don't hurt the trees :)

Hugs,
Rosina