Bringing Michaelmas Home
It is a favorite tradition at our school to gather our community to celebrate the Michaelmas festival with a magnificent play and picnic in the park. Each class takes up their part in the story, and the students truly rise to meet the challenge of learning songs and verses by heart so shortly after the school year begins.
Like most festivals, however, Michaelmas can also be brought into home life in simple ways that nurture the courage and light necessary to confront our own inner dragons and aid our self development.
We love seeing and supporting our families as they build their own home cultures, and feel honored to be part of their journey through childhood and beyond. Below are a few ideas for making this first festival of the autumn season meaningful at home.
You might read a Michaelmas story together, or discuss what personal dragons you are each currently facing and how you might support each other in that work.
Dragon Baked Bread, by Warren Lee Cohen
Saint George and the Dragon, by Margaret Hodges
This is a good moment for outdoor activities before the weather turns truly autumnal! Is there something your family could do together that requires strength and courage?
A big hike
A long bike ride
A game of tug-of-war or a scavenger hunt
We are in the season of Michaelmas daisies!
Also known as Aster, these sweet late-blooming flowers can be spotted in gardens around the city. Be on the lookout!
The Michaelmas festival aligns with the Northern Hemisphere’s autumn equinox: the moment when night begins to grow longer than day as the North Pole tilts away from the sun.
You can learn about autumn equinox traditions around the world to see if any feel like a good fit for your family!
Many children who begin their time at Cedarwood in preschool or kindergarten begin understanding rhythm and repetition through baking and cooking!
Our youngest friends may not yet know the days of the week, but they do know that the first day of the school week is rice day. Making a special treat to share each year is a lovely way to mark a festival day — especially if it can be made with a story.
Dragon Bread*
6 c. flour
2 c. warm milk
1 tsp. sugar
5 tsp. dry yeast
1/4 c. melted butter
1 tsp. sea salt
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 c. golden raisins
1 egg yolk
1/4 c. sunflower seeds
optional: sesame seeds, slivered almonds, additional egg yolk, food color (for decorating)
Measure the flour into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
Dissolve 1 tsp. sugar and yeast into warm milk; once it turns frothy, stir in the butter as well and set aside.
Place 1/3 c. sugar and salt together in a small bowl and sett aside.
Place raisins, egg yolk, and seeds each in their own small bowl and set aside.
Arrange all the small bowls near the big mixing bowl, light a candle, and begin the story (as adapted from All Year Round):
Once there was a small and abundant land with lovely hills, valleys, mountains, and forests, where happy, hard-working people lived (sculpt this landscape in the big bowl of flour, making a valley in the center).
One day, a dragon came and with his big fiery breath burnt up the land (pour the warm yeasty milk into the “valley”) and with his mighty tail knocked down all the trees of the forest (begin stirring the landscape).
The darkness of autumn came, along with freezing rain (throw the salt and sugar onto the “land”) and the people who were once so happy and full of light, became unable to work or even smile (stir slowly to mix the dough).
The angel Michael looked down one day and saw this dark and dismal land, and his heart was full of compassion for the people. With one hand he reached for a handful of stars and scattered them on the land below (toss in golden raisins).
With the other hand, he took gold from the sun and sent it down upon the land (add egg yolk).
The people were warmed by the stars and sun, and they began to work once again (mix the dough with hands).
The farmers ploughed the land again and sowed their seeds (add sunflower seeds; continue mixing) and soon the crops began to grow.
Michael came to the people and told them to be brave and to work hard, to harvest their grain when it was ripe and to grind it into flour. He told them to knead the flour into dough and bake it into bread that could be shared with all, for “Each slice that is cut in friendship will warm your hearts and each piece that is eaten will give strength and power to overcome the dragon” (knead).
The people did as Michael told them and because of their hard work and bravery, they were blessed with abundance once again. They sang a blessing as they shared their bread (knead):
Earth who gives to us this food
Sun who makes it ripe and good
Dear Earth, dear Sun, by you we live,
Many thanks to you we give!
At the end of the story, the dough is ready for its first rising: cover the bowl with a damp cloth and leave it in a warm place for 1 hour.
Punch down the dough and shape it into a dragon on a baking sheet. Leave to rise again for 30 minutes.
Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes - 1 hour. Bread is done when you tap the underside and hear a hollow sound.
Decorate your dragon with almond and sesame seed scales and claws; mix food coloring into egg yolk and brush on. Bake a few moments longer to set.
*Many different bread recipes will work here! The story can be adapted to suit and the dough can be shaped as a dragon and decorated.
Chelsea Slaven-Davis marked her first Michaelmas festival at home with her small family ten years ago this fall. Now her much bigger children are celebrating their first Cedarwood Michaelmas festival with the school, where Chelsea is the Marketing & Communications Director.