The midwinter rains necessitated the postponement of our St John’s Festival until the beginning of next term. But here is an edited version of a previously published article giving some background and context to our beloved bonfire festival. Please click here for some copies of the songs that we will be singing on the new date, the 24th July. It will be lovely to have our whole community join in the singing around the fire.
Midwinter and Midsummer have been celebrated for many centuries throughout the world. This year, for the 66th time, our school will be honouring the tradition of celebrating the Midwinter Festival of St John. To simply honour a tradition has its own value; to actively celebrate a festival with conscious participation in its relevance generates something living and sustaining. This is what we aim to do as a community at all our school festivals.
Right now we are in the middle of winter, at the turning point of the year. Contemplate the enormity of this natural event. The days become shorter and shorter, the nights are cold and long. Imagine we were further South and daylight was completely overshadowed. Darkness has grown and outweighs light – what if it were to continue to do so? But it doesn’t; the shortest day is followed by the longest night, and then, imperceptibly but miraculously, night’s darkness begins to wane whilst daylight gains.
The Solstices have long been celebrated as enormous natural events that mirror inner transformations. To name some: “In Ancient Persia, the Festival of the Baptism by Water and Fire was celebrated. In ancient Rome the Festival of Vesta was held on a similar day in June, and that again was a festival of the baptism by fire. Going back to the time of pre-Christian culture in Europe and including the period before Christianity had become widely disseminated, we find a similar June festival … of the Norse god Baldur who was thought of as associated with the sun. Then in Christian times this June festival gradually became the Festival of St John in memory of the Forerunner of Christ Jesus” (Steiner, R: GA112, 1909). Closer to home, Cape Town’s Dean Liprini has brought to the modern South African awareness the sacred sites where the turning points of the year were historically celebrated by indigenous people of the Western Cape. The Muizenberg Mountain Dolmen is one of many examples. In midwinter and the days surrounding it, the rising sun shines directly through the enormous window created by the Dolmen. Witnessing this is a profound experience. (www.sacredsitesfoundation.co.za).
In the Northern Hemisphere, the John fires or “bonfires” are lit at Midsummer, when the sun is at its zenith. St John, or John the Baptist, baptised Jesus of Nazareth in the Jordan, so that the Spirit of Christ could enter the earth and make it possible for each individual human being to begin to choose to purposefully participate in humankind’s soul/spiritual evolution. Thereafter, John’s mission was complete; in St John’s words: “He (Christ) must increase, but I must decrease” (Jn 3:30). In the North, the sun decreases as the nights lengthen after midsummer, and the Prophet John’s mission is fulfilled as the light of Christ enters the world.
Here in Cape Town, this Midwinter time calls us to expand inwardly as the Northern hemisphere expands outwardly; to increase our capacity to Love, in the highest sense of the word, with the light of truthful insight to guide us. We are challenged to become introspective, to pause, and to re-assess the purpose and the direction of our lives. At the festival, each child brings their own little lantern, lovingly made, to the bonfire: What might we each bring as our own God-given gift, to contribute to the community which is greater than the sum of its parts? What might we give up in the darkness of the turning of the year to make room for something more worthy? What pettiness, false justifications or limiting comfort zone do we need to go without in order to love our neighbour as ourself? At the baptism in the Jordan, no longer did the supreme Light Being only watch over humanity from without, but entered the world, enabling us to become active participants in our own further spiritual development.
When we leap over the glowing embers of the great fire we can symbolically leave behind that which serves no good purpose in being taken forward. The light of the St. John’s festival gives us the courage and the warmth we need to keep to the path that has been illuminated for us, no matter how dark the world around becomes.
Spirit triumphant!
Flame through the impotence of faltering, fainthearted souls!
Burn up egoism,
Kindle compassion,
So that selflessness,
The life-stream of humanity,
May flow as the wellspring of spiritual rebirth!
(R. Steiner)
Warm holiday wishes,
Jon Stodel and Paula Megaw
