Advent
It is the beautiful task of advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope’
Pope Benedict XVI
Dear Colleagues
The theme for this week is Advent. This comes from the Latin word ‘adventus’ which means ‘coming’. This week begins the Christian season of advent where believers anticipate the birth of Christ or the coming of the Messiah. There are 4 pillars of advent for the 4 weeks and these are hope, peace, love and joy. These are great themes whatever our beliefs or religion. Many Orthodox Christians also fast or avoid eating meat in the 4 weeks before Cjhristmas and you will see fasting menus and cafes and restaurants here in Cyprus. In school this week we have been playing a song called Light the advent candle. In many churches and communities a candle is lit each Sunday running up to the final one on Christmas eve. Advent is symbolised by light and the hope that light brings in the darkness.
In Waldorf this afternoon and evening, we are celebrating advent with our spiral light festival.
The Advent Spiral is an important part of the Waldorf calendar. It symbolizes finding light in the darkness and is a spiritual and calming experience for all the children.
Advent is not just one moment, it is a period of time. In the four weeks before our Winter Break, advent is a time of quiet preparation as we go into the darkest days of the year. The shortest day (in the northern hemisphere) is close to the end of December, so by the time we celebrate our holiday traditions, we have reached a turning point and the days begin to lengthen again, the daylight increasing. Nature will begin very slowly to reawaken.
By the end of the ceremony, the spiral is bright with light, illuminated with all the children’s candles. This offers the children a powerful picture of light in the darkness, of one’s candle contributing to the great light with others in the dark world, of the coming of light from each of us. It offers a reminder of the reliable turning of the sun from weakness to strength each year at the Winter Solstice.
Waiting quietly in the darkness for the return of the light, contributing a little bit from each person to make the world bright, are important lessons to learn for life.
I am certain that the Waldorf team would welcome any colleagues who would like to join in this festival and come to see what it is all about! Thank you to all our Waldorf team for enabling this festival to happen.
The Winter Spiral is a truly moving ceremony that celebrates community and the individual. The room is quiet and filled with a mood of wonder and inner anticipation. Each person in turn, holding an apple with a small unlit candle, walks to the center of a spiral path of evergreen boughs and lights their own candle from the candle in the center (symbolising the inner light we will need to draw from during the dark season ahead), and then walks back out and places their lit candle on the floor on a golden star of their choice. As candle after candle graces the spiral, the room becomes increasingly filled with light. Nothing formal is explained; it is a lived experience that takes place within us at a level beyond words.
Last Saturday, our Montessori parents from both Pre-Primary and Primary joined us at school to help make our playground greener. From early morning, they worked together with the team to assemble pots, add soil, and plant a variety of herbs.
It was a wonderful opportunity for parents, children, and teachers to collaborate, learn, and contribute to our environment.
The children are excited and happy to help take care of the plants, and we look forward to watching our green playground continue to grow! Thanks to our amazing Montessori team for all your efforts!
Last weekend our Island F1 racing team were very successful winning the pan Cypriot F1 racing competition. Congratulations to the whole team and to Stelios for his hard work preparing the team. Also on Saturday our boarding students enjoyed an amazing visit to Limassol castle with members of the boarding team and Taylor learning all about local history. PYP 5 enjoyed an amazing and creative trip to a pottery workshop led by their wonderful homeroom teachers and Cristiana. This weekend a number of our MYP and DP students will be attending a Model United Nations Conference in Nicosia at the Senior School. Thanks to Konstantin for taking the lead on this and we wish the team every success representing the Island School!
Next week is service week and we are looking forward to focusing on helping others and philanthropy! It is also Risa Parks day on Monday and we will play a song from the Horrible Histories series.
I wish you all a pleasant and relaxing weekend, full of hope, peace, love and joy!
Best Regards
Deborah Economou
Head of School
It is the beautiful task of advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope’
Pope Benedict XVI
Dear Colleagues
The theme for this week is Advent. This comes from the Latin word ‘adventus’ which means ‘coming’. This week begins the Christian season of advent where believers anticipate the birth of Christ or the coming of the Messiah. There are 4 pillars of advent for the 4 weeks and these are hope, peace, love and joy. These are great themes whatever our beliefs or religion. Many Orthodox Christians also fast or avoid eating meat in the 4 weeks before Cjhristmas and you will see fasting menus and cafes and restaurants here in Cyprus. In school this week we have been playing a song called Light the advent candle. In many churches and communities a candle is lit each Sunday running up to the final one on Christmas eve. Advent is symbolised by light and the hope that light brings in the darkness.
In Waldorf this afternoon and evening, we are celebrating advent with our spiral light festival.
The Advent Spiral is an important part of the Waldorf calendar. It symbolizes finding light in the darkness and is a spiritual and calming experience for all the children.
Advent is not just one moment, it is a period of time. In the four weeks before our Winter Break, advent is a time of quiet preparation as we go into the darkest days of the year. The shortest day (in the northern hemisphere) is close to the end of December, so by the time we celebrate our holiday traditions, we have reached a turning point and the days begin to lengthen again, the daylight increasing. Nature will begin very slowly to reawaken.
By the end of the ceremony, the spiral is bright with light, illuminated with all the children’s candles. This offers the children a powerful picture of light in the darkness, of one’s candle contributing to the great light with others in the dark world, of the coming of light from each of us. It offers a reminder of the reliable turning of the sun from weakness to strength each year at the Winter Solstice.
Waiting quietly in the darkness for the return of the light, contributing a little bit from each person to make the world bright, are important lessons to learn for life.
I am certain that the Waldorf team would welcome any colleagues who would like to join in this festival and come to see what it is all about! Thank you to all our Waldorf team for enabling this festival to happen.
The Winter Spiral is a truly moving ceremony that celebrates community and the individual. The room is quiet and filled with a mood of wonder and inner anticipation. Each person in turn, holding an apple with a small unlit candle, walks to the center of a spiral path of evergreen boughs and lights their own candle from the candle in the center (symbolising the inner light we will need to draw from during the dark season ahead), and then walks back out and places their lit candle on the floor on a golden star of their choice. As candle after candle graces the spiral, the room becomes increasingly filled with light. Nothing formal is explained; it is a lived experience that takes place within us at a level beyond words.
Last Saturday, our Montessori parents from both Pre-Primary and Primary joined us at school to help make our playground greener. From early morning, they worked together with the team to assemble pots, add soil, and plant a variety of herbs.
It was a wonderful opportunity for parents, children, and teachers to collaborate, learn, and contribute to our environment.
The children are excited and happy to help take care of the plants, and we look forward to watching our green playground continue to grow! Thanks to our amazing Montessori team for all your efforts!
Last weekend our Island F1 racing team were very successful winning the pan Cypriot F1 racing competition. Congratulations to the whole team and to Stelios for his hard work preparing the team. Also on Saturday our boarding students enjoyed an amazing visit to Limassol castle with members of the boarding team and Taylor learning all about local history. PYP 5 enjoyed an amazing and creative trip to a pottery workshop led by their wonderful homeroom teachers and Cristiana. This weekend a number of our MYP and DP students will be attending a Model United Nations Conference in Nicosia at the Senior School. Thanks to Konstantin for taking the lead on this and we wish the team every success representing the Island School!
Next week is service week and we are looking forward to focusing on helping others and philanthropy! It is also Risa Parks day on Monday and we will play a song from the Horrible Histories series.
I wish you all a pleasant and relaxing weekend, full of hope, peace, love and joy!
Best Regards
Deborah Economou
Head of School