garden of light

the childrens's school celebrates the garden of light ceremony today, a very reverent, festival that celebrates the inner light that we all carry within us through the darkest half of the year. the children all come in to the room in silence, they come up one by one, given an apple with a candle in it, walk through the spiral to the center where they light their candle and place it in the spiral. this is my third year and it was just as moving to see all the little ones find such pride as they take this walk in the dark. the even would have been almost sickeing sweet if it was not balanced by the accompaniment of the 8th grade orchestra, we were lulled by the screeching violens, the unharmonic wind instrument but nothing compared to the trumpets that should have stayed home that day. I have one word of advice PRACTICE! I sat through two different ceremonies, one for the kindergarteners and then the first/second grade. surprisingly enough the older children were way more wiggly than the little ones who just sat there spell bound for the 45 minutes it took to get through the group. the olde children on the other hand were talking and wiggilng in their chairs. i was so proud of Eva, she was so poised during her walk and as she sat in her seat, well most of the time, until she dug for at least 5 minutes for a booger, I sat their snickering to myself. p.s. this photo is contraband, we are not allowed to take photos/video of the ceremony but as soon they left I snapped a photo.