Winter solstice and seasonal tables

A dear friend and soul sister asked me to do a post on seasonal tables. She asked me to talk about the elements of the seasonal table so that she can do what I do. I laughed because she is incredibly creative, so I would have thought that I would be asking her to do a post for me! So, I thought it would be fun to share what we have done at home and perhaps it can inspire you too.

This is the seasonal table we have set up at the moment. It was created mostly by Annie, with minimal input from me.

Before you set up a seasonal table, it is important to consider the purpose of it. For some, it is a place to collect things from nature that are relevant for that time of year, for others it is a prop for story telling during the year, for others it can just be a beautiful, inspirational place and for some it can even be an altar for the current season.

For me, it is a little reminder of where we are in the wheel of the year, in a beautiful setting for my children to enjoy. I am happy for them to play with everything on the table, but there is a level of respect for what we have created, so it needs to be cared for.

We have used a blue piece of muslin as the base, "winter animals" like polar bears and wooly sheep, little wintery trees, which Annie dutifully stuck up one by one and we also sewed little clouds and raindrops out of felt last year. If you look carefully (they are hanging), you can see the raindrop that Annie made by herself, I was very proud of her efforts.

As I was preparing to take the photos, I realised that we didn't have any water on the table. Water is the active element in winter and I thought that it was relevant to have it on the table along with some flowers from our garden.

I like to rotate the books that we have out and change them every solstice and equinox. I like to have books that are relevant to the time of year. I don't like to have a lot of books out as it creates clutter and they are not enjoyed. Rather have a fresh set out every few months, it is much more interesting that way.

I bought this lovely King Winter from Rainbow River Designs. You can get it here. I must say that even though my children go to a Montessori school, I have a love affair with Waldorf toys. They are so beautiful, lovely to play with and inspire so much creative play. We have a lovely balance of Montessori schooling during the day and Waldorf inspired living at home.

The winter solstice is coming up and we are planning another nature walk like we did last year. You can read what we did last year over here. I think it will be a very similar affair this time round.

We will be thinking about what we will incubate during the coldest and darkest time of the year. It is the time to dream, rest, sleep. It is not the time for activity. All of nature goes to sleep, the bears, the trees, the bees. We also need our time to hibernate. Spring is the time to wake up again. If we don't rest now, we will be burnt out by the time we need all our energy for the bursting activity of summer. That is just how the cycles work. 

We have to rest.

It is interesting to note that I dreamed up the house we are moving into in the middle of winter. I wonder if I would have had such clarity of vision if I had not taken the time to slow down.

Are you planning any special things for the solstice? (summer or winter)

Blessings to you.