We Are Three Wandering Travelers

"We Are Three Wandering Travelers" is a circle game song that my daughter really enjoyed in her kindergarten class last winter. The group forms a circle. Three children “travel” outside of the circle, walking around it as everyone sings:

We are three wandering travelers
Out in the wind and the rain
We saw your light, shining so bright,
Tapped on your window pane, saying,
“Let us come in, let us come in,
Into your house we pray.
Let us come in, let us come in,
Please do not turn us away.”

Children in the circle respond with an emphatic, "No!"

The song is sung two more times. The second time, the circle responds with "No!" but on the third time, they respond with “Yes!”

The three children enter the circle. Everyone sings:

You may come in, you may come in,
Into our house today.*
You may come in, you may come in,
We will not turn you away.
YES!"

Here is the tune, which, when my daughter heard it, said, "You're singing too low!"

*I sang "we pray" instead of "today."

Santa Lucia (Saint Lucy) Song

The Parenting Passageway has a good post on the December 13 festival of Saint Lucy/Santa Lucia called Santa Lucia Day in the Waldorf Home. In the post is an embedded link to the Swedish Santa Lucia song as well as a link to lyrics translated by Mama Lisa's World.

In my daughter's school, the song has been simplified to these few lines:

Now in the darkest night
Enter with candlelight
Santa Lucia! Santa Lucia!

For this blog, I sang the song twice on video:

Jack Frost Song

"Jack Frost Was in the Garden" was the first song of the the winter cycle that I learned when my daughter attended her Waldorf parent-toddler program. The first verse is based upon the poem by John P. Smeeton and I have not yet discovered from where the second verse comes. You may read Smeeton's poem here. Here are the lyrics to the song I recorded for home and school use:

Sung:

Jack Frost was in the garden
I saw him there at dawn
A’ dancing round the bushes
And prancing on the lawn.
He wore a cloak of silver,
A hat all shimmering white,
A wand of glittering star-dust,
And shoes of moonbeam light.

--Based upon the poem by John P. Smeeton


Spoken:

He shook his silver dust
Upon the tallest trees
He painted pretty pictures
On every pane you see.
He turned the grass and bushes
From green to sparkling white
And all the garden’s puddles
From mud to fairy ice.

When we sang, we walked around in a circle. When we spoke the second part, we waved our imaginary wands.

Here is the video with the tune for the song:

Fire Fairy Song

When my daughter was in Waldorf preschool, the teacher would light a candle after the children had sat down at the table for their snack. Then we would sang the following song as we held hands:

Help me call the fire fairies...
Fire fairies, come to us,
Bringing golden light from the sun,
Holding hands, please!

Until I had a child, I never understood the practice of holding hands at the table. Before, I thought it was simply to promote good will. Now, I know it's to keep children from grabbing the food!

I made a simple recording of the Fire Fairy song. I don't know who composed the song, but the teacher told me that most of the songs sung in the Waldorf school were for general use. I hope that if this song appeals to you, you can incorporate it into your own families' lives. For the graphic, I used the fire elemental recently created for Alkelda: Dolls for Storytelling, my online shop.



Update: In the comments, Stacy writes:

It's so interesting to hear how it is done in other schools. Ours is similar with some of the same tune:

fire fairies come to us
with a light and a glow
far from heaven to us below

when we put out the candle we sing:

fire fairies warm and bright
thank-you for your golden light

Martinmas 2009 Lantern Walk

A year after I began this blog as an adjunct to Saints and Spinners, I finally have a new video to share. This one can definitely go into the "home movies" file! My daughter's kindergarten class had their lantern walk last night in weather that was neither rainy nor windy. This fortuitous weather meant that we could stay out longer than in previous years. I thought the parents of my daughter's classmates might enjoy having this video on hand to show relatives what the procession is like. Everyone in the video is anonymous, as the only light comes from fire and I have but a tiny camera.

The songs in the video are "I'm Walking With My Lantern," also known as "I Go Outside With My Lantern" and "Glimmer, Lantern, Glimmer."

I Go Outside With My Lantern: A Lantern Walk Song

My daughter's kindergarten teacher sang "I go outside with my lantern," the main Lantern Walk song, so that people could learn the words and tune before Martinmas. The sheet music you see is one version of the song, but the lyrics listed below are the ones that my daughter's kindergarten class sings.



Here are the words:

I go outside with my lantern, my lantern goes with me
Above the stars are shining bright, down here on Earth shine we.
The cock does crow, the cat meows, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom.
‘Neath heaven’s dome till we go home, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom.

I go outside with my lantern, my lantern goes with me
Above the stars are shining bright, down here on Earth shine we.
So shine your light through the still dark night, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom
‘Neath heaven’s dome till we go home, la bimmel, la bammel, la boom.

My Lantern! My Lantern! A Lantern Walk Song

I had recorded my daughter's kindergarten teacher singing this song with my daughter and one of her first grade friends. However, when I listened to the recording at home, I discovered an excess of background noise that would have made listening to the song quite painful. Fortunately, my daughter not only remembers most of the songs but has good pitch. If you ever need to find out the words to a particular Waldorf kindergarten, preschool or toddler song, feel free to ask her to sing it to you on the playground. Chances are, she knows how it goes. Here is the song "My Lantern! My Lantern!"



Here are the words:

My lantern! My lantern!
Sun and moon and stars
Put out all your lights
Put out all your lights
That my lantern can truly shine bright.

I wrote a post about Martinmas last year, which you will find here.