Karl König Institute Newsletter

Winter 2020/2021 Karl König Institute Newsletter TheKarl König Institute Newsletter is published by the Karl König Institute www.karlkoeniginstitute.org24 Karl König Archive, Camphill House, Milltimber, Aberdeen, AB13 0AN, Scotland [email protected] Editors: Richard Steel, Anne Weise and Christoph Hänni The Origin and History of the Advent Garden Regine Bruhn Contents The origin and history of the Advent At the beginning of Advent, the ‘Advent into contact with anthroposophy and Garden Regine Bruhn ...................... 1 Garden’ is celebrated in many Waldorf throughout the course of 1923 she sought In rememberance of Renate Sleigh kindergartens, lower classes of Waldorf to find support among her acquaintanc- Anne Weise .............................................7 schools and also many congregations of es who would help to inspire the work Of new books and other activities The Christian Community. at the school through a holistic view of of the Institute Richard Steel ....... 10 Its origins and history coincide with human beings and anthroposophical Some ideas for winter reading the development of anthroposophical ideas. Thus Franz Löffler, Siegfried Pick- (Or fora late Christmas present!) curative education and can be under- ert, Margarete Becker (later Hardt) and A witness of Alfred Bergel’s life stood from its particular situation in the others came to Sophienhöhe. After dif- Anne Weise ............................................11 early years between 1923 and 1927. Its ferences with the medical management The Sheiling Ringwood — Camphill origins lie both in 1919, when the first arose, they set out to find their own place roots in Southern England Waldorf School was founded in Stuttgart, and Albrecht Strohschein found pre- Simon Figg .............................................12 and in 1921 when Ita Wegman founded cisely that: On 1 May, 1924, they rented the Clinical Therapeutic Institute in Ar- house ‘Lauenstein’ in Jena, where Rudolf lesheim. At that time the Stuttgart Wal- Steiner visited the children, adolescents Inhalt dorf School also had a special class for and co-workers in mid-June 1924. A few Die Entstehung und Geschichte des children with special needs whose needs days later he held a course on curative Adventsgärtleins Regine Bruhn ..................3 could not be met in the regular classes at education in Dornach with reference to Im Gedenken: Renate Sleigh that time. This special class was taught the children he had visited. All those re- Anne Weise ..................................................... by the pedagogue Karl Schubert. Rudolf sponsible at Lauenstein took part, as well 5 Von Büchern und anderen Lebens- Steiner visited this class regularly and as Ita Wegman, Karl Schubert and other relevanten Dingen Richard Steel ........ 8 gave educational and therapeutic advice. interested people. (see Hermann Girke: In the Arlesheim clinic, some children Franz Löffler, Ein Leben für Anthroposo- Einige Lesevorschläge für die Winters- were also cared for in the so-called ‘Hol- phie und heilende Erziehung im Zeiten- zeit … (oder für ein spätes Weihnachts- le’ in the early 1920s. schicksal, Dornach 1995, p. 58 cont.) geschenk?) Richard Steel .....................11 At the time, there was an institution There was an increasing demand for for children and adults with disabilities this new curative education, which had been incorporated into the Medical Sec- called Sophienhöhe in Jena, which had tion of the newly founded Free School of Spiritual Science at the Goetheanum in been founded by Johannes Trüper (1855- Dornach, led by Ita Wegman. She soon asked individual representatives of this ‘orig- 1921). His daughter Johanna had come inal impulse’ in curative education to contribute their knowledge and experience to leadership positions in various places. They all remained in close contact with each other, meeting regularly for further training and exchange of experiences. As early as autumn 1925 Ita Wegman asked Franz Löffler, who had shortly before married Johanna Trüper, to set up the Son- nenhof in Arlesheim, as a curative home. Until then it had been a branch of the clinic. From then on, individual people often spent time in one place or another for educational and therapeutic stimulation. (ibid., p. 76 cont.) Var- ious artistic therapies were developed during this time in Arlesheim, such as curative eurythmy, painting and music therapy etc. Gradually, new forms for celebrating the annual festivals with the children were developed, along with songs and music for the newly created lyre. The Ad- vent Garden, most likely originated in this context. One source dates its origin to the Christmas season of 1923. Searching for a festive form and illustration of the The Advent Garden in Camphill Hall, Aberdeen, in the sixties increasing quality of light while waiting for Christmas, ‘Nurse Inge’, a co-worker at on 24 December, Adam and ‘Lauenstein’, had the idea for Eve’s Day, to commemorate a special light experience for the expulsion from paradise. children: a spiral of pine green Therefore, at home, one had and moss was to be laid out on a small form of paradise—the a large table with a large can- ‘Paradeisl’ or ‘Paradeiserl’ (Di- dle placed in the middle, from minutive form of Paradise). which each child could then The apples commemorate light its own candle. The can- the Fall of Humankind, when dles were to be placed in ap- Adam and Eve tasted a fruit ples, so every child could eas- from the tree of knowledge ily hold them. Her colleague, of good and evil. The candle Margarete Becker-Hardt, then light symbolises the light that had the opportunity to present came into the world with the this idea to Rudolf Steiner in birth of Christ and promised 1923 at the Christmas Confer- The Advent Garden in Peaceful Bamboo Family redemption from sin. Often ence of the Anthroposophical in Hue City, Vietnam, 2018 a gilded walnut hung from Society in Dornach. She later described: big candle was lit and we sang Christ- the topmost apple, which was opened ‘In every break we stood around him in mas carols. One after another, each on Christmas Eve and contained a small a large circle, each of us had many ques- child was allowed to stand up and take ‘Baby Jesus’ figure made of wax. (see the tions from everyday life. Steiner replied: a little candle from the moss garden, online exhibition of Regensburg Univer- ‘We could use that’, but in order to let the which they then lit from the big can- sity library: https://www.uni-regensburg. children experience the event with their dle. (…) As the circle of children grew, de/bibliothek/granatapfel/volkstuemlich/ whole bodies, he advised to make it large the decorated moss spiral was created, paradeisl/index.html) and accessible on the ground.’ (Gisela Sti- at the centre of the Advent garden the Another variation of the Paradeisl is bill: Die Lichtspirale – Über das Advent- big candle was burning. The apples in the ‘Schlesische Putzapfel’ (Silesian dec- gärtlein, In: Erziehungskunst. November which the candles were placed stood at orative apple): Four sticks carry a single 2011) If 1923 is the correct date, then the the entrance to the darkened Garden apple, in which green twigs are inserted origin did not fall in the time of Lauen- of Paradise. One after the other, ac- and which carries a candle. Thus, the stein, which only opened in May 1924, but companied by lyre music and singing, Advent Garden was inspired by a com- still in the preparatory phase of Sophien- the children went into the centre of this bination of old traditions with the wish höhe. It is also possible that the conversa- spiral and lit their little candle from for renewal of celebrating these festi- tion took place a year later. The concept the big one. When they went back, they vals. Over the years, decorative elements of the spiral, which should be experienced placed it on the moss spiral and helped have been added, such as dried flowers with one’s whole body, is already an ele- to illuminate the Garden of Paradise. and particularly beautiful crystals. Karl ment of many cultures’ traditions; it also (Frida Knauer: Zur Entstehungsge- Schubert composed the lyrics of the exists in the plant and animal kingdom, schichte, Zuschrift 1976, in: Seelenpflege song: ‘Über Sterne, über Sonnen’ (Over and it can be seen as the archetype of life in Heilpädagogik und Sozialtherapie, Starlight, Over Sunlight), which was then processes. An inner and outer experi- Christmas 1986) set to music by Edmund Pracht. At the ence of the spiral allows related yet very One gets the impression that both at beginning there is usually a short story different experiences of the qualities of Lauenstein in Jena as well as at Sonnen- about light and warmth, about paradise, narrowness and vastness; inwardness and hof in Arlesheim, the Advent Garden was or a legend, e.g. about the life of Mary or outwardness; inhalation and exhalation; celebrated in a similar way as we know elementary beings contraction and expansion; of a dynamic it today, already in those early days. As Karl König experienced the Advent relationship between point and circum- described above, all co-workers of this Garden on the first Advent Sunday in ference or even of a rhythm between rest first generation of curative education 1927, shortly after his arrival at Sonnen- and movement. homes were in constant exchange with hof, and described this as the moment According to another source, Nurse each other. This explains the parallel de- when he realised his future task, which Gustel, a co-worker in the ‘Holle’ of the velopments. Newly composed songs and eventually led to the founding of Cam- Arlesheim clinic, told of the custom of a pieces of music, especially for the newly phill. He has described this in both Ger- small Advent celebration in family circles developed lyre, were also exchanged.

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