Festivals

The cycle of festivals at Sacramento Waldorf School is a unique feature of our community.

Festivals mark the passing of seasons and offer us opportunities to pause in the flow of time to express awe and reverence for the changes happening around and within us. Below are the major whole-school festivals celebrated through each school year. Additional festivals and assemblies, aligned with the curriculum or with broadly-observed holidays, are celebrated in specific grades within the school. Families are also encouraged to reach out to teachers or the Festival Committee to share festivals and celebrations important to their cultural life.

Opening Ceremony

A beloved tradition to celebrate the start of a new year. The entire school community gathers under the canopy behind the Margaret Preston Administration Building. Second Graders welcome our new First Graders as they begin their journey through the grades. We honor the incoming Senior class with roses and warm wishes for their final year, the faculty performs a musical offering for the community, and we recite the “Bell Ringing Verse” together as a whole school. Families gather after the ceremony ends to greet old friends and welcome new families.

Michaelmas

The timeless festival of Michaelmas celebrates autumnal harvests and human courage. Grades Two through Twelve participate in a pageant on the athletic field. Each class has its appointed role, and children eagerly anticipate their future roles in the pageant in the years to come. The Sixth Grade takes on the role of the fierce, fire-breathing dragon. The beast is created in secrecy over many weeks and finally emerges to challenge the assembled crowd. Two members of the Twelfth Grade are chosen to portray Michael and St. George who, endowed with otherworldly strength and light, transform the mighty dragon for the good of all.

Harvest Fair: October 19, 2024, 10am–3pm

Entrance is free. Activity tickets may be purchased at the Fair entrance.

For more than 45 years, SWS has hosted a Harvest Fair, a tradition of community and activities for all ages. Try your hand at candle dipping, and shop The Country Store for handcrafted jams, home goods, or toys. There’s even a special Children’s Store just for kids. Musical performances run throughout the day, used clothing is sold at the Second Wave boutique, and treats are available from Café Waldorf. If you work up an appetite from zip lining, gourd painting, or from shopping at the many local craft vendors, there are plenty of satisfying options at the High School’s food court.

Pumpkin Path

The Pumpkin Path—an offering and fundraiser from the Twelfth Grade—is a magical evening of beauty and light, generally taking place on or around Halloween. Children meet many characters as they journey through a wonderland. Angel guides accompany small groups of children and adults through the campus, which is transformed into a pageant of fairytales and wonder. Families are excited to have the chance to share in an evening of delight and magic together.

Winter Concerts

Held in mid-December, the Winter Concert showcases our talented students from Third through Twelfth grades. Dressed in holiday finery, they perform songs, instrumental pieces, eurythmy, plays, speeches, and skits. This event is always packed as families gather to celebrate the season together and enjoy the extraordinary talents of our students.

May Day

May Day celebrates spring and the transition of our Eighth Graders from Lower School to High School. The Eighth Grade performs traditional, intricate maypole dances. As they dance their way around the maypole, they greet one another again and again. Their individual strands weave together to form a brilliantly-colored, complex cloth. This symbolizes the rich journey they have taken together over the years in the Lower School. Classrooms are open, displaying a selection student work across the grades. High school students sell a variety of foods for our community picnic.

Grandparents Day

Our children eagerly anticipate Grandparents Day! On this special day, grandparents and other loved ones are our honored guests for the morning. The day offers a combination of classroom visits, student performances, campus tours, and a delicious lunch prepared and served by our Senior class. Grandparents Day recognizes the importance of these special relationships in the lives of our children.

Senior Benefit Concert, Senior Play, Senior Send-Off Concert, Senior Walk-Through

We mark the end of our students’ remarkable journey with a series of events. The Senior Send-Off Concert showcases our music program: members of the Twelfth Grade select their favorite pieces for choir, orchestra, or jazz to be performed. The Senior Benefit Concert shows a more contemporary side of their talent: community members perform a variety of skits or musical pieces as a benefit for the Senior trip. In the Senior Walk-Through, held on the final day of Lower School, every child in the school gathers to honor and celebrate our graduates. Beginning in the Kindergarten, the Senior class is greeted with song or verse and an offering of fresh flowers. As they make their way from class to class, they retrace their own journey through their education. The journey ends where the school year began, under the canopy behind the Margaret Preston Administration Building. The Class is greeted with tremendous applause. Seniors then lead the School in reciting the Bell-Ringing verse, and the school bell tolls one last time. Graduation will follow one week later after completion of the Senior trip.

Eighth Grade Promotion and Twelfth Grade Graduation

Traditionally, the Eighth Grade promotion is held on the day after the last day of Lower School and is hosted by the Seventh Grade. The Twelfth Grade graduation ceremony is held on the day after the last day of High School and is hosted by the Eleventh Grade. Both days mark the beginning of new chapters in our students' lives and are celebrated in unique Waldorf style.

Class Plays and Concerts

Waldorf students are talented and confident performers, as is evident in the class plays and concerts performed by classes throughout the year. From a young age, they participate in a variety of class plays and concerts, developing poise, grace, and confidence. Class plays reflect the curriculum, from simple puppet shows in Kindergarten to full-length productions as part of the culmination of Eighth and Twelfth grades.