Sea of lights brighten up the night at a Rotorua kindergarten's mid-winter festival

Pathways Steiner Kindergarten families parade their lanterns around the block. Photo / Supplied

A sea of lights lit up dark streets in Rotorua as young ones and their families came together to celebrate mid-winter on the shortest day.

Last Friday Pathways Steiner Kindergarten held its annual Lantern Festival.

Teacher Rachel Matthews says it is part of the Rudolf Steiner philosophy to celebrate festivals for occasions like each season, and the kindergarten's families are invited to go along.

The Lantern Festival starts off with the sharing of soup and bread.

Rachel says the soup was prepared in the lead-up to the event, and some of the children help with tasks such as preparing vegetables for it.

"It's a time of sharing and gathering, appreciating the whole concept of warmth and community."

The children then go into the kindergarten which is lit up by many candles, where they sit and can appreciate the warmth and peacefulness of the candles' light.

They enjoy a story together and then light lanterns which the children have made - "It's part of that learning process, and making it special and memorable".

"With our festivals it's all about the build-up as well, and the children take part in it. It's a sense of community and anticipation for the children."

Once the children's lanterns are lit, they go for a walk around the kindergarten's garden singing a song they had prepared.

They then go for a walk around the block with their lanterns, and it has become tradition for a bagpiper to lead the parade.

"Some people pop out of their homes, some were standing out by their driveways and the children were waving.

"You look back and see a sea of lights, it's just gorgeous."

Rachel says one of the overarching words of the festival is 'reverence', and the festival is about having reverence for things such as the warmth of light.

She says about 60 or so people took part in the event.

Rachel says celebrating festivals as part of the Rudolf Steiner philosophy is based around the repetition, tradition and structure created by these events.

"It's a bit like a family. We can all remember little traditions in our families, and as a child looking forward to these.

"So, the children can look forward to these traditions just like you would in a family."

It is also a time where the parents can reflect on these sorts of memories from their childhood and imagine how their own children must be feeling now, she says.