Hello friends and welcome to another "Sunday with Sarah." I'm Sarah Baldwin and
today I'm here to talk to you about Waldorf birthdays or how we celebrate
birthdays in early childhood in the Waldorf tradition. One of our
best-selling products are our Birthday Rings and our Birthday Ring Decorations
and one of the frequent questions I get from customers and viewers is how to use
the birthday ring. So today I'm going to share with you not only how I used the
birthday ring in my classroom but also share with you the birthday story that I
would tell. So let me explain: if it was a child's birthday they would come in and
the birthday ring would be all set up from the evening before, the
afternoon before. So children would come in, the birthday child would find a
rainbow birthday cape like this hanging on their chair and a birthday crown.
These are our Waldorf Birthday Cape—Rainbow Cape—and the Reversible Silk
Crown from Sarah's Silks that are wonderful for this purpose. This crown is
reversible. So the child would put on the cape and the crown. His or her parents
were also invited on the birthday to our celebration, they would sit on either side
of the child and the other children would be around in a circle and I would be at
the center telling the birthday story. And here's an example of the story I used.
Now the first part you'll hear was the same story pretty much for every child.
The second part is going to include details, milestones from that child's
life for however many years old they are. Today we're going to do a birthday for a
six year-old. So I would ask the parents in advance to give me details
of the child's milestones: what their birth was like and then milestones, what
happened during their first year, after birth, and what happened when they were one
year-old. Three or four milestones from each year; places they visited. So if you're a
parent, you know these things. If you're a teacher working with a group of children
you might do something similar. Now the Birthday Ring right here—I've got our
Birthday Ring Set that we sell and this is in natural wood, we also have
the Birthday Ring at Bella Luna Toys which comes in white, a kind of whitewash, or
in rainbow colors with four rainbow colored pieces. Whatever your preference
is. But the Birthday Ring Set we sell comes with six candles and six
decorations and each candle goes in a brass candle holder like this. You do not
want to put the candle directly in the ring because it could be a fire hazard
and you don't want the wax to melt into the holes. The birthday ring has 12 holes
drilled and the decorations, on the other hand, have a wooden peg and they fit
right in the holes of the Birthday Ring. You don't
need the the brass candle holder for those. And so the six decorations that I
chose for our Birthday Ring Set represent the elements that you will
hear in the story: we have an angel, a moon and a star representing the
kind of heavenly life before birth, and then we've got a tree, a house and a
rabbit representing the earthly life the child is being born into. So we will tell
Abbie's birthday story today. Normally I I had this story memorized by heart but
because it's been a while since I've told the birthday story I do have
my notes here. Once upon a time, more than six
years ago, Abbie wasn't here on the earth at all. Oh,
no. She was up in heaven with her guardian angel. She had a lovely time
there. She could roll around, she could dance, she could hop first on one foot
and then on the other without falling at all. One day, Abbie's angel gave her a
ball made of real gold. Abbie loved to play with her golden ball.
She would throw it high up into the air and catch it again and she could toss it
from one hand to the other without dropping it even once. Then, one day, when
Abbie was in a very strange and curious sort of mood, she wanted to see how far
she could throw that golden ball. So she picked it up, felt its weight in her hand
at her shoulder, aimed, and threw that ball just as far as she could.
Well, she threw it so far that it disappeared right out of sight. Abbie
searched here, there, and everywhere, but the ball was nowhere to be
found. But then suddenly, Abbie saw something shining among the
clouds, and lo and behold, there was her golden ball. As she reached for it,
the clouds parted and Abbie saw something beautiful. She caught sight of the earth
and there she saw oceans and mountains and blue sky and trees. And as she looked
even closer, she saw a little red farmhouse with a woman working in the
garden and she saw a man with kind and loving eyes busy fixing things around
the house. The woman was singing "Oh, how happy I would be
if a child would come to me." And she saw three little Corgi dogs
barking happily and running around the yard. And as soon as Abby saw the man
and the woman she wanted to go down to earth to be with them, to be their little
daughter. "Look!" said Abbie to her Guardian Angel. "May I go and visit them?" "Yes," said
her Guardian Angel. "Yes, you may, but first we will go on a very long walk. Take my
hand and we shall go." First, Abbie and her Angel visited the house of the Sun. The
Sun gave Abbie the gift of courage and tucked it into her heart.
"This courage," said the Sun, "will give you strength when life is difficult." Abbie
thanked the Sun. Next, they visited the house of the Moon. The Moon gave Abbie the
gift of wisdom and tucked it under each of her feet. It felt just like a pair of
soft slippers. Abbie thanked the Moon. Next, they traveled past many, many Stars and
each one winked at Abbie as she passed by. Then one Star, Abbie's own very
special Star that still shines in the heaven every night, touched her lightly
on the eyes and said "Here is the gift of the twinkle in your eye, that you may
always see the joy in life." Abbie thanked the Star. Then Abbie's Angel led her
through the Starry Gates to the Rainbow Bridge. The Sun and the Moon and the
Stars sang her name. "Remember, I will always be with you during your
journey on the earth," said her Angel. Then Abbie slid over the Rainbow Bridge, down,
down to the earth. A kind and gentle lady with a beautiful smile and warm
brown eyes took the tiny child and tucked her in a special place under her
heart where she carried her for many days and many weeks and many months
until one day she held a beautiful baby girl in her arms.
"Oh, look!" said her Mother and Father. "She is the most beautiful gift of all. We
shall call her Abigail Lucy Reed, for that is the very best name for her."
During her first year on earth, Abbie learned to do many, many
things. She learned to smile and to roll over, and then she learned to sit up
by herself and later pull herself up to stand. She
loved music and her favorite toys were a little wooden rattle with a bell in it
and her favorite teddy bear. And then the baby, who wasn't quite tiny anymore,
had her first birthday and she turned one year-old.
Well, during the year that Abbie was one year-old, she learned to do
many more things. She took her first steps when she was 13 months-old and
walked right over to her Grandpa. She also said her first word which was
"horse" but it came out sounding more like "herse." Abbie's grandparents came
to visit from Florida that year. And then, after another trip around the Sun, Abbie
had another birthday and turned two years-old. Well, during the year Abbie was
two, she took a big family trip to a wedding in Vermont. While Abbie and
her family were in Vermont, they visited the Morgan Horse Farm and Cabot Cheese
Factory. Abbie loved the garlic cheese and happily munched. While she was two Abbie
spent much time with her Mom, playing, drawing and reading, but Abbie especially
loved playing with her horses. She took care of her riding rocking horse,
lovingly grooming her and shoeing her every day. Then Abbie had another
birthday and was now three years-old.
During the year that Abby was three, she rode her first horse, Mercedes. It was
love at first sight. Abbie placed daisies in her hair and in
the mane of Mercedes while riding her. That was the year she started ballet
lessons which she still loves and continues. Then, Abbie had another birthday
and turned four years-old.
When Abbie was four, she was able to lead a miniature horse named Midnight to her
grandparent's camp from a neighbor's house, with her mummy following close
behind. Abbie continued to love horses and her
ballet lessons. Then, Abbie had another birthday and turned five years-old.
Well, during the summer that Abbie was five, she learned to ride her two-wheel bike
with training wheels. She also learned to climb a tree all by herself. And in the
fall, when she was still five, she joined Miss Sarah's kindergarten
class and met Miss Sarah and Miss Jess and all of you, her friends here, for the
first time. Now, today is February 27th and Abbie is again
celebrating a birthday and today Abbie is 6 years-old.
We wish you a happy birthday. A joyous and celebrated birthday to our dear Abbie.
May you have a long, long life. And we would end with that song. That song can
also be sung as a round, it's really pretty. So now, if a child is fewer than six
years-old, you could put more decorations and fewer candles. You want
the number of candles for the age the child is turning. And if they are older
than six, you remove some of the decorations. And we have a 16-hole
Birthday Ring for older children if you want to continue the tradition. But
this is a lovely tradition that families can celebrate at home as well as in
a classroom. So I hope that helps you know what you can do with a Birthday
Ring. I will post the birthday story below this video. Hope it will give you
some inspiration. This story has been adapted from different stories that
different teachers have told in their classes. I took bits and pieces from it
and you are free to do the same to make it meet your family. But happy
birthday to all the children whose birthday is today. Thank you for watching,
don't forget to subscribe to the "Sunday with Sarah" YouTube channel if you haven't
already and I will see you next time. Bye-bye.