The world of rhythm and the rhythm of the world
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Chapter 2 in Heaven on Earth is called “The World of Rhythm.” It could just as easily be called the rhythm of the world. When a baby is born, he has no regular rhythm. He doesn’t know day from night—I remember this part very well. He doesn’t have a regular rhythm for eating or sleeping. His organs are finding their rhythms, as well. The newborn may breathe up to 80 times per minute, while adults and children of around 9 or 10 breathe 16-20 times per minute. We live in a time and place where we are not necessarily in touch with the rhythms of the world. We don’t have to sleep when it is dark or wake at the dawn (unless our children do). For most of us, our work doesn’t change with the seasons and we don’t have our weeks organized with certain tasks for certain days. It can seem limiting to have these kind of regular rhythms. But for the child a regular rhythm can support the healthy development of both body and mind. Over the next few weeks we will talk about daily, weekly and yearly rhythms, including festivals. We are coming to a season where there are many festivals for many people.
How do you celebrate the holidays? Do you have a regular daily rhythm? Weekly? Would you like to? How do you find the balance between rhythm and flexibility? Do you have rituals for certain parts of the day?
On November 17, we will be celebrating the beginning of winter with our lantern walk. We will be making lanterns for the next couple of weeks and baking in class to prepare some treats for after the walk. At 4:00PM, we will all gather in the side yard and your parent child teachers will present a special puppet play for you. After that, we will take our lit lanterns and walk around the block, singing our lantern songs. We will return to the side yard for refreshments.
As the days grow short and the nights grow long, we walk with our lanterns to remind ourselves that we carry the light with us as we go into the darkest time of the year. We also celebrate the light and warmth of community. I hope you will be able to join us.