Waldorf Birthday Ring Tradition

You can use this beautiful rite of passage every year as your child s birthday arrives.

Waldorf birthday ring tradition. You can also use a waldorf birthday ring during advent time. In waldorf tradition parents tell the birth story and light each candle as they go through the memory of that special year. This can range from learning to walk to taking a special trip to going to sleepaway camp for the first time. Some families place candles in the holes of the ring corresponding to the number of years the child is turning so 3 candles for 3 years old and then fill the remaining holes with wood and other decorations symbolizing the child s interests or events of the year.

The birthday ring is a german tradition that is popular among waldorf inspired families as it is a simple yet beautiful way to bring the focus of a birthday onto the child and not parties or gifts. The waldorf birthday ring began as a german tradition for celebrating a young child s birthday. How to use a birthday ring. Whether you follow waldorf traditions or not it is magical for children to hear the story of how they came into world.

Adorn the ring with candles ornaments that represent your child and other treasures like play silks or found objects. Birthday rings are a wonderful birthday tradition. The birthday ring stems from a lovely german birthday tradition called geburtstagskranz which is also popular in waldorf schools and waldorf homeschooling families. Enjoy the birthday ring by decorating the table with play silks and nature items from the season your child was born.

This is a fairly new tradition for my family as we only learned about it and adopted it after beginning our waldorf inspired homeschool journey. The waldorf birthday ring tradition.