The Rudolf Steiner Archive

2. Speech at the Christmas Party

[ 1 ] My dear children! A few weeks ago, when we all started attending this school for the first time, I visited you quite often. Then there were a few weeks when I had to be quite far away from here. But every time I got up in the morning and went to work, I couldn’t help but wonder: What are my dear Waldorf children and their dear teachers doing right now? And often during the day, that thought would come to me. And now, during this lovely Christmas season, I was able to visit you again. I went into all the classes, and I asked many of you, my dear children: “Do you love your dear teachers, too?” [“Yes!”—the children call out.] And look, you answered me with such a heartfelt “Yes.” And then I told you: “That is a very special Christmas gift for me!”

[ 2 ] That is also a lovely Christmas gift for me. For you see, my dear children, I can’t help but think about how you spend your days ever since our dear Mr. Molt gave us this Waldorf School. After you have rested from evening until morning in the divine Spirit, who watches over your souls from the moment you fall asleep until the moment you wake up, and once you have washed, dressed, and made yourselves neat—very neat indeed—then you come up here to this beautiful schoolhouse. But I believe many of you—perhaps all of you—are looking forward to everything you’ll have here in this beautiful school building. [Yes!—the children call out.]

[ 3 ] And, my dear children, you, too, can rejoice. Do you see how often, when I was away from you, I thought of you here, and how I asked myself: ‘What are the dear Waldorf children doing?’—and then I would tell myself: ‘These dear Waldorf children will be just fine, for they have loving, capable teachers, and those loving, capable teachers meet them with true love and strive with great diligence to ensure that these children grow up to be truly capable individuals!’ —And then I couldn’t help but think of how happy you are when you come up here, because of the love your teachers show you. These teachers have to work hard and make a great effort so that they can teach you all the good and beautiful things that will make you capable people.

[ 4 ] And you see, my dear children, I was especially delighted when, while I was in each of the classrooms, a few children would always come in: they portrayed St. Nicholas or little angels, and they sang and spoke of the Holy Christ, of the Baby Jesus. And that is beautiful, that is wonderful—that you were able to speak of Christ with such love and listen with such love.

[ 5 ] For do you know where your teachers get all this competence and strength that enables them to help you become capable people in life? They get it from Christ, whom we remember at Christmas—how he came into the world to bring happiness to all people—and who has been so beautifully portrayed to you today.

[ 6 ] You see, my dear children, there are other beings on Earth besides humans—for example, the animals that surround us—and one might often think that we should envy these animals. You can look up and see how the little birds fly; perhaps you might then say: “Yes, if only we could fly too, then we could soar into the air!” — We humans cannot fly like birds because we have no wings. But, my dear children, we can fly into the spiritual realm; we can fly with two wings: one wing on the left—that is diligence—and the other wing on the right—that is attentiveness. You cannot see these wings, but these two wings—diligence and attentiveness—enable us to fly into life and truly become capable people for life. If we are diligent children, if we are attentive, then—with capable teachers like the ones you have—what makes us fit for life will come to us; then we can fly into life with diligence and attentiveness, carried there by the love of our teachers.

[ 7 ] You see, sometimes you might think: Oh, there are other joys besides learning! — Oh no, there is no greater joy than learning! Because, you see, if you take pleasure in what makes you inattentive and lazy, then that joy is over in an instant. You take pleasure in it, and just like that, the joy is gone. But if you take joy in what you can learn, if you take joy in soaring with diligence and attentiveness, then, my dear children, then something remains in your soul—you will come to understand what the soul is later on—then something remains in your soul, and we can rejoice again and again. When we have learned something worthwhile, it comes back again and again, and we rejoice anew each time, and we have a joy that never ends. Other joys, which come only from inattention and laziness, come to an end.

[ 8 ] You see, because many of you—and I’d like to believe all of you—want to be diligent and attentive to what your dear teachers teach you, that’s why, when I saw you again, I was so happy to see the love for your teachers shining out at me from your lovely eyes. And so that you certainly won’t forget it, I’d like to ask you again now: Don’t you all love your teachers dearly? [Yes!—the children call out.] You see, that’s what you should always say. You should always feel and sense this way, for then the Spirit—whose earthly life and birth we commemorate during the holy Christmas season—then the Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, will find joy in you.

[ 9 ] Well, my dear children, if you have felt the love of your teachers up here all day long, then you can go home again, tell your dear parents about what you have learned, and your dear parents can take joy in it and say to themselves: “Our children will one day become capable people!”

[ 10 ] Take this to heart, for now is a good time to do so. As we commemorate the great feast through which we remember that Christ entered our world to bring comfort and joy to all people who turn their hearts and souls toward him, let us also engrave upon our souls the resolve to become good people. What you engrave in your souls today, what you truly resolve to do today, will come to pass in your lives through the strength of Christ that stands by you. And when I return and see that you have made even greater progress, when I return and see that you can once again show me that you have taken the love for your teachers into your hearts and still hold onto it, then I will once again take the deepest joy in all of you. May this love grow more and more within you, so that you may increasingly unfold the left wing of the human soul—diligence—and the right wing—attentiveness. This is what I wish for you today as a heartfelt Christmas greeting.

[ 11 ] And now, after speaking to the children, a few words to those who accompanied the children here! What I just said to the children flowed from the deepest satisfaction of my heart, because I truly received something that was the most beautiful Christmas greeting. What I sensed emanating from this school was what I would like to call the good spirit of this school. It was truly a good spirit that unites teachers and children here—a good, unified spirit.

[ 12 ] You see, a Christmas spirit rested over all the serious lessons during those days, and this Christmas spirit—I would say, this resonance of the revelation of Christ—which could be heard so deeply and satisfyingly in all the hallways and especially in the classrooms, was not merely an addition to the rest of the instruction; rather, it was such that one could sense: Our teaching staff has managed to infuse everything that is presented here to the souls, hearts, and minds of the children with the warmth and light of the true, authentic Spirit of Christ. Even if, in accordance with the Spirit of God, the name of Christ is not spoken after every word here—for: “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain!” —it is nevertheless true that this Spirit of Christ is present in every single subject we teach and in every single teaching activity. That is what one could sense especially during this time, and what you may also have sensed today in the Christmas celebration that was held for you.

[ 13 ] And to the children you have sent here—whose progress, I hope, you also take pleasure in—to these children I would like to say, in closing, as a supplement to my Christmas greeting:

[ 14 ] Children, when you enter these rooms and find your classmates, remember that you should love one another dearly—each and every one of you. Let love reign among you, and then you will thrive here under the care of your teachers, and your parents at home will think of how you spend your time here without worry and with feelings of love.

[ 15 ] For this is what we may say today, my dear friends here present, and this is what should always resonate to you—who have sent your children here—as the spirit of this school; this is what should resonate to you from every word and glance that the children bring home to you: an echo of what is to permeate all human life on earth since the Mystery of Golgotha took place—what is to penetrate all human work, all human activity, especially that activity in which the spirit has its work to do. It should permeate—like a warming breath of air, like a radiant ray of sunlight—everything that people do in their own understanding; the word that resounds in our souls today:

Revelation of the Divine from the heavenly heights,
and peace to those on earth who are of good will!

[ 16 ] Our great ideal is to nurture this goodwill in the children of the Waldorf School. Our concern should be to find the spirit of the world at work in our efforts and in our actions. May the Christmas message: “Revelation of the Spirit of God from the heavenly heights, and peace to people on earth who are of good will”—may it also permeate all the work of the Waldorf School! May moral love permeate their energetic work, and may peace—which inspires and sustains all their work—be with them! That, my dear friends here today, is my Christmas greeting for today!