Michaelmas 2021

What a busy and fun day! We had two children here with us to help Zac and me celebrate Michaelmas, aka Dragon Day. Here are some notes as to what we did... and photos!

Wednesday, September 29

1. read the story we will be acting out: Saint George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges

2. begin to build castle (this began at 9:15 am, continued off and on throughout the day, and was completed at 2:15 pm)

THANK YOU to Ms. Anna for the donation of these amazing foam bricks!

3. begin to make the shield of the Red Cross Knight (the oldest boy's special project, one he thought up and designed and made all by himself)

4. begin pickles (we used a Quick Pickle recipe that would be ready to eat by the time we had our feast)

this comes from a poem we've been working on memorizing for the past few weeks, "I Have a Dozen Dragons," found in The Dragons Are Singing Tonight by Jack Prelutsky

"they eat vanilla ice cream / and pickles mixed with ink"

I also kept some slices of cucumber plain, so that the children could compare their taste and texture with the pickles when we ate them

we used one English cucumber and halved the brine recipe, and it was the perfect amount for two wide mouth 16 oz. pint jars

5. chop an apple into tiny pieces for Dragon Bread recipe

6. play Fiery Dragons memory game

7. read the entirety of Jack Prelutsky's dragon poem book (and recite "I Have a Dozen Dragons" all together when we come to it) during Lunch

8. proof yeast and make dough for Dragon Bread (this recipe was posted to Marsha Johnson's Yahoo Group long ago...)

9. read The Philharmonic Gets Dressed by Karla Kuskin

10. let dough rise for half an hour

while the dough is resting, have Dragon Rest Time on sleeping mats outside and listen to some Dragon Classical Music

I made a whole blog post while I was organizing my ideas for this!

we listened to the excerpt from "The Magic Flute" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and "Dragon Dance" from "Hàry Jànos" by Zoltán Kodály

11. punch down the bread dough, shape it into a large dragon, add dried currants for scales, let it rest covered for 30 minutes while the oven preheats to 375, and then bake 25 minutes until golden brown

12. BATTLE! act out the story of Saint George and the Dragon, with costumes for the king (crown, sword belt, sword), dragon (dragon cape), and Saint George (cardboard shield with finger knitted arm loops, breastplate, helmet, sword belt, sword)

I appreciate the lovely golden crown and sword belt which Becca crocheted for Zac several years ago!

his dragon cape Halloween costume from Magic Cabin came in handy as well!

the children took turns playing the different parts and being the narrator... here a little girl cleverly thought of reading the pictures in the book to help her narrate the story

After the Battle, of course it was time for the Feast! We had the delicious Dragon Bread and our dragon foods (pickles and vanilla ice cream).

I started the pickles at 10:30 am and the bread at 12:30; next time I will move the bread to noon so that we aren't rushed at the end of the day.

This afternoon Zac and I will plant snowdrop bulbs, so that we have snowdrops at another classic Waldorf festival, Candlemas (February 2nd).

a shirt of silvery sequins goes perfectly with the knight's breastplate

adding sprigs of fresh dill to the cucumber slices before we pour in the brine

Dragon Rest Time

everyone wants to try out the finished shield

a lot of teamwork goes into the building of this castle

the foam bricks were a HUGE hit! I was so glad that we had them!

once the castle was complete, we could tell our story

the paparazzi snaps a pic as the king takes a royal sip of water

I also get a turn to play the victorious knight!

they battle!

the dragons covers him with fire and the knight falls, as if dead

but he has fallen by an ancient stream of healing magic water,
and he rises to fight for a second day

they battle! Saint George cuts off the tip of the dragon's tail!

the dragon covers him with fire and the knight falls, as if dead

but the magic apple tree drops healing dew on Saint George,
and he rises to fight for a third day

they battle! the dragon opens his mouth to devour the knight but Saint George pierces him in the throat!

the mighty dragon lies dead

Saint George, the patron saint of England

the bread was so good I forgot to take a picture until we had eaten half of it!

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