by Marty Gravett, Director of Early Childhood

Context – the environment, the setting in which a school grows and lives – gives shape to the school. This is a tenet of the municipal schools of Reggio Emilia, and at Sabot, context informs all of our celebrations. You won’t find any traditional or conventional observances on the school calendar. At this time of the year, when the North East of the United States is getting darker and colder, we celebrate warmth and light. Our Winter Night celebration melds myriad Sabot inspirations from decades of winter experiences and provocations. Philosophically, the event is an extension of children’s ongoing fascination with light and the change of seasons.

The faculty has scaffolded these big ideas for years by supporting children’s play and inquiry. There is the Light Studio where all the children across campus have access to transparent and translucent materials, light projectors, and shadow play. And then there are projects. Once, Sabot preschoolers engaged in a nighttime exploration of the school exclusively by flashlight and then were led to the forest where their parents surprised them with a labyrinth outlined in glowing votive apples. One group of children darkened their classroom windows with cardboard and “painted” with light. And several years ago, the second graders explored the sounds of seasons and created the kinetic, tinkling sculpture, The Sounds of Winter Night , that hangs to this day outside the Studio.

For more than two decades, the preschool children have been given colorful bits of beeswax to warm in their hands, to explore, and then to use as decoration for a small candle. This is a gift for their family to mark the darkest season of the year. As they leave for the winter holidays, they celebrate in as many different ways as there are families… all suffused in light. These candles are a reminder of the light and hope all children bring to Earth.

As the school grew, the candle tradition followed the children into the lower school and middle school. Wanting to gather families to share in and display these beautiful expressions in beeswax and wanting to give children, families, and faculty a chance to mark the season with a goodbye to each other and the animals and nature on campus, we launched Winter Night.

Winter Night has now become an annual exploration of light in the darkness—engaging all the children and families of the school. It is highlighted by luminaria lining the walkways, lantern making, and winter stories by the glowing fireplaces in the Main House. In Founders Hall, with the garage door wide open to the cold night, there is the making of fruit garland and pinecone bird feeders. Families then traipse into the night by moonlight or with flashlights to hang their bird feeders on trees and bushes in the Gillette Garden, all the while imagining Sabot’s feathered friends will miss them but be well-fed while we’re away.

Winter Night ends with families gathering in the Great Hall to sing songs of light in the solstice season, songs like Round and Round the Earth is Turning and This Little Light of Mine. Because light and the change of seasons are essential to the rhythm of life on this planet, we should not be surprised that children are naturally aware of their essential nature and joyously revel in their value and possibility, especially with their families. What a thing to celebrate!

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