Advent Garden

It was magical.

So so magical, for anyone, any age…  the atmosphere that Jean had created with this Advent Garden in Coleg Elidyr was pure bliss..
The spiral path, representing the journey towards the light, walking in, carefully lighting a candle and walking out choosing a place for your apple with the candle… was breathtaking.

The smells of the greenery brought in by the ‘landpeople’, it was perfect.
The natural decorations mainly collected and chosen by Jean, provided by some of the House Parents, they were beautiful.
Jean had asked me to accompany her chosen songs with guitar and help with the singing or humming, I very happily obliged.
Little did I know, as a young housemother, how the afternoon would develop.

There were children from the Camphill community and the Peregrini school, thus several young children and siblings from the villages around Rhandirmwyn in Wales.

Jean had put the lush songs together, printed and organised into a small booklet. Several of the songs were written by Jean herself.

As the children walked their path, Jean would observe each child and adjust the rhythm, or change the sound level.  If Jean felt the tune should go slightly faster she would tap my knee and kind of increase the beat to speed me up on the guitar.
I thought we would follow the order in the booklet, but no!
Jean would whisper to me which song was next, as she had seen which child was going to walk the spiral path next, and she decided what suited best to the young person, or what they would get most out of.
When I got carried away, strumming or fingerpicking too fast, I could sense her hand on my knee again, pushing down to “cool it a bit”!

Slowly the room filled with light, symbolising hope and light in the darkness. The children's faces were full of awe and wonder.

My word, I learned so much that afternoon.
Jean was encouraging and giving the singers and me confidence. She taught us to become aware of surroundings and adapt. (And be flexible!).

Once the children and parents had quietly left, Jean simply stayed put. We continued the guitar play and the singing, not able to step away from this magical experience... She whispered if us coworkers wanted to walk the garden and some did.

A unique experience I will never ever forget. It lives on with me.