From the Waldorf Watch News

November 11, 2020

MARTIN, THE PERZMARTL,

AND A WALDORF FESTIVAL 

SAINT MARTIN (Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2009).

Before becoming a Christian, Martin was a Roman soldier.

He once used his sword to cut his cloak in two, giving half to a beggar.

Later he converted to Christianity. Ultimately he became a Christian saint.

Waldorf schools regularly deny that they are religious institutions, yet many religious practices and observances [1] are found at these schools, including the celebration of numerous religious festivals [2]. Most of the major festivals observed in Waldorf schools are nominally Christian, but the nature of these events is fundamentally altered by the Waldorf belief system, Anthroposophy [3]. Here is how a Waldorf teacher has described Waldorf festival observances:

"Festivals — like towers in a landscape, the annual festivals mark important moments in the calendar as observed in fields of work inspired by Anthroposophy. The main festivals are: Easter, Whitsun, St John's, Michaelmas, St Martin [4], Advent, Christmas, Epiphany [5]. These festivals are not only reminders of events that took place in the past, but also reflect cyclical spiritual events that take place in the breathing process of the earth every year [6] ... Celebrating the festivals enables human beings to get in touch with both nature and spirit [7] ... The festivals, if we engage with them fully and connect through them with our ongoing human evolution [8], offer an opportunity for us to develop greater awareness of the course and aim of human life on earth [9]." — Waldorf teacher Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z (Sophia Books, Rudolf Steiner Press, 2011), pp. 45-46.

Today, November 11, is Martinmas. Here is how van Oort describes the Waldorf observance of this religious holiday:

"St Martin — festival on November 11 in honour of St Martin who, according to legend, cut his cloak in half to give one part of a beggar ... In many Waldorf schools this festival involves making lanterns ... [T]he children go out into the street or a park, processing [sic] with their lanterns and singing St Martin songs [10] ... [The] inner light shines out from each individual [11]." — Henk van Oort, ANTHROPOSOPHY A-Z, pp. 104-105. 

The details of festival celebrations at Waldorf schools are often drawn from German folk customs. Thus, we find the following account in a booklet written by a Waldorf teacher and published by a Waldorf teachers' association. A central figure in this account is the "Perzmartl" — a gnome-like creature [12] from German folklore.

"[Saint] Martin looks down from heaven to the earthly world of human activity and writes it in heavenly script into the golden book he carries in his hand. Only once a year, on his death day [13], when the heavens open and those who have died become visible to human beings [14], does he open this book for his messenger. It is his messenger who descends to the earth to give Martin's words to the people, so that they themselves can recognize whether their deeds were good or bad.

"But the messenger does not appear as a friendly angel, because he comes from the elemental realm [15]...where Woden [16] storms past and the Berchten [17] lead the army of the dead [18]. Therefore he comes dressed in a ragged fur...wildly and noisily stamping and thrusting his crooked stick threateningly ... [This is] 'Pelzmartl' [19]...

"After the children have gotten over their shock, he tells them where he comes from ... [T]hen the mood changes when he speaks about Saint Martin, who helped people in their bitterest need ... Again the mood changes when he tells how Saint Martin has sent him as a messenger to earth, so that he can bring to human beings what is written in [Martin's] book. The first delicate processes of self-knowledge [20] are awakened and stimulated in the children, from which they can experience whether they have acted rightly or wrongly [21]...

"Then the tension is dissolved and turns into jubilation when the Pelzmartl empties his sack, and apples, nuts, and honey cakes roll around the room. After everything has been gathered up, maybe he will dance together with the children.

"Thus the Pelzmartl stands as a kind of guardian at the gate of the spirit realm [22], in which the purified souls live beyond the threshold, and into which only those who have shown themselves worthy are allowed a glimpse ... In earlier times everyone was able to experience such pictorial events, because their consciousness was open to this kind of imaginations [23]; today, only the small child has the capacity to experience such vivid pictures [24] ... [W]e adults have not yet developed our capacity for imaginative thinking [25]". — Waldorf teacher Helmut von Kügelgen, ST. MARTIN (Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2009), pp. 38-39.

Whether the Martinmas observances at any particular Waldorf school include an appearance by Pelzmartl depends on choices made by the teachers at that school. The Pelzmartl is more likely to show up in German Waldorf schools than in similar schools elsewhere. But in virtually all Waldorf schools in all lands, Martinmas festivities will reflect at least some of the occult Anthroposophical beliefs expressed in the descriptions you have just read.

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Waldorf Watch Footnotes

[1] See, e.g., "Prayers".

[2] See the exposition on festivals in "Magical Arts".

[3] See "Anthroposophy" in The Brief Waldorf / Steiner Encyclopedia (BWSE) — scroll down to the entry. 

In the field of education, the chief institutions inspired by Anthroposophy are Waldorf schools.

[4] I.e., St. Martin's Day or Martinmas.

[5] Waldorf schools operating outside Christendom sometimes incorporate non-Chistian festivals in their calendars. In virtually all cases, however, Waldorf festival observances (nominally Christian or otherwise) are adjusted to reflect Anthroposophical beliefs.

[6] According to Anthroposophical teachings, the Earth is a living organism that breathes in and out with the seasons. [See "Earth" in the BWSE.]

[7] In Anthroposophical belief, nature is a manifestation of the spirit realm. The annual festivals at Waldorf schools are meant to reflect the rotation of the natural seasons, behind which the spirit realm may be glimpsed.

[8] The central narrative of Anthropsophy traces the evolution of human consciousness to higher and higher stages. Our goal, according to Rudolf Steiner, is to evolve to become gods and, ultimately, the highest gods of all. [See "evolution" and "evolution of consciousness" in the BWSE.]

[9] From the Waldorf perspective, the "course and aim of human life on earth" are to be found in Anthroposophy.

[10] Anthroposophists believe that in accepting Christ, Martin internalized the warmth and light of Christ's home place, the Sun. [See "Sun God".] In celebration of St. Martin's Day, Waldorf students create small lanterns symbolizing the light of the Sun bravely fending off the cold and darkness of winter. 

The songs performed in Waldorf festival celebrations, including Martinmas, are often hymns. [See the exposition of hymns in "Prayers".] So, for instance, an explicit prayer to Saint Martin may be sung, such as this:

Saint Martin, with Apostle's zeal

You were prepared to live or die

As pleased God best; smile down on us

As lovingly to you we cry.

[See, e.g., Martine, par apostolis.]

Other songs, used more often, are less overt. One example:

Rise up, O Flame, by thy light glowing, 

Show to us beauty, vision and joy.  

Out of Eternity, this new day is born, 

Into Eternity, it will return.

[See, e.g., CWS Lantern Walk Songs, Cincinnati Waldorf School.]

[11] The children both enact the Anthroposophical conception of Martinmas and they serve, effectually, as proselytizers, enticing charmed onlookers toward Waldorf belief and practice. Note that the walks often occur in public spaces, such as "the street or a park."

[12] Waldorf belief affirms the ancient conception of four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. Rudolf Steiner taught that within these elements reside four "elemental beings" or "nature spirits": gnomes (in earth), sylphs (in air), fire spirits (in fire), and undines (in Water). [See "Neutered Nature".]

[13] A "death day" is analogous to a birthday: It is the anniversary of one's death. According to at least some Waldorf authorities, children should be taught to celebrate death days. [See Helmut von Kügelgen, WORKING WITH THE DEAD (Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, 2003).]

[14] Various pagan traditions tell of periods when the living can see the dead (often in the form of ghosts). Traditional Christian observances of Martinmas do not, however, include this concept.

[15] I.e., the level of reality consisting of elemental forces (the four elements and their resident elemental beings). 

[16] Woden, or Odin, is the chief god of Norse mythology. Norse myths are generally emphasized in Waldorf schools. [See "The Gods".] 

Woden, of course, is not a figure found in Christianity; he is a pagan god. Many polytheistic and pagan beliefs are woven throughout Anthroposophy. The apparent similarities between Christianity and Anthroposophy break down more and more the deeper one delves into Anthroposophical teachings. [See "Was He Christian?"]

[17] In German folk belief, Berchta was a goddess who protected various dead souls. The "Berchten" may be understood as Berchta and her companions. "The types of dead souls Berchta protects have a tendency to trouble the living by manifesting as destructive ghosts. Should you be afflicted by such a ghost, petition Berchta to soothe and remove it, escorting it to her realm, where it will be much happier." — "Berchta", Occult World.

[18] German folklore contains references to such an army (Totenheer). The concept derives, at least in part, from Norse mythology. Valhalla is Woden's (Odin's) ethereal castle where dead heroes (especially those killed in battle) gather in preparation for a climactic war (Ragnarök) against the forces of evil. [See references to Valhalla and Ragnarök in "The Gods".]

[19] "The Pelzmärtel (also Pelzemärtel, Pelzermärtel, Pelzamärdl or Pelzmartin) is a common name for the pre-Christmas gift bringer in parts of Franconia (Southern Germany). Regionally, it appears also as Pelznickel. In the name, the customs for the day of St. Nikolaus ('Nickel') and St. Martin ('Märtel') merge. In his sack, the bringer of gifts has nuts and fruit with him on St. Martin's Day, November 11, or St. Nicholas Day, December 6, for the good children, and a rod for the naughty children." — "Pelzmärtel", German edition of Wikipedia, translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator.

[20] Waldorf education — like Anthrposophy generally — aims to promote inner, spiritual development. "Self-knowledge," according Waldorf/Anthroposophical doctrine, is largely bound up in the incarnation of the spiritual ego or "I". [See "Ego".]

[21] According to Rudolf Steiner, most spiritual knowledge is hidden or "occult." One can gain such knowledge only by being initiated into spiritual mysteries. [See "Occultism".] Thus, knowing whether you have acted rightly or wrongly depends on the awakening of "delicate processes of self-knowledge."

[22] In this telling, the Pelzmartl is an analogue or representation of the Guardian of the Threshold, a key figure in Anthroposophical teachings. [See "Guardians".]

[23] According to Rudolf Steiner, ancient humans possessed a natural form of clairvoyance. Modern humans have generally lost this power, Steiner said, but we can gain a higher form or clairvoyance by heeding (guess who?) Steiner. [See "atavistic clairvoyance" in the BWSE; also see "Exactly".]

In Anthroposophical usage, "imaginations" are true mental images attained through accurate use of clairvoyance.

[24] Steiner taught that young children arrive on Earth with memories of — and connections to — the spirit realm where they lived before Earthly incarnation. [See, e.g., "Thinking Cap".]

[25] An important goal for Anthroposophists is to attain new, high powers of clairvoyance such as Steiner claimed to possess. In promoting imagination, Waldorf schools attempt to steer students toward possible acquisition of clairvoyance. [See "imagination" in the BWSE.] In this important sense, Anthroposophy and Waldorf education center on a delusion: They aim at clairvoyance, which does not exist. [See "Clairvoyance".]

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November 18, 2011

A Waldorf Martinmas Lantern Walk

[Seasonal Gnome]

"LAGUNITAS SCHOOL DISTRICT [California, USA] 

"Important Dates ... 

"November 18 - Waldorf-Inspired Program Lantern Walk 5:30 pm...” 

[11-18-2011 http://lagunitas.marin.k12.ca.us/LSD%20Newsletter%202011-2012%20November%2015.pdf]

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Waldorf Watch Response:

“Waldorf-inspired” programs are offered in some public school systems. Some of these programs may be largely devoid of Anthroposophical spiritual doctrines — but some exhibit such doctrines, as in “Lantern walks.” 

Lantern walks are, at root, religious ceremonies. Here is how such a walk is described by the full-fledged Waldorf school: 

“Each November we have a Lantern Walk to celebrate Martinmas, a festival of inner light in the outer darkness of the approaching winter. St. Martin...became the patron saint of beggars ... Celebrating Martinmas at EWS [Emerson Waldorf School] serves as a reminder that each of us has a divine spark that we must ferry out into the world and share with others. The children hear the story of St. Martin, sing songs and, as darkness falls, venture out into the night with their lanterns walking along a path lit with glowing luminaries, carefully carrying their lanterns in a mood of quiet reverence.”* 

Note that the event — which celebrates a religious holiday and honors a saint — is meant to bring a spiritual lesson home to the students ("each of us has a divine spark...") and it occurs "in a mood of quiet reverence.” This is a religious observance — one that, performed in the dark, among faintly glowing lights, is likely to have a deep emotional impact on children. If you set out to invent a ceremony of indoctrination for youngsters, you would likely create something similar to a Waldorf lantern walk.

* We have seen a similar statement recently used by another Waldorf school [Nov. 2, White Mountain Waldorf School]. While not officially linked, Waldorf schools tend to work together in at least loose coordination.

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[R.R.]