Michaelmas, from ‘Michael’s Mass’, is the festival of St Michael and all angels, celebrated every year on September 29th, which is around the autumn equinox.

The autumn equinox is the point at which both hemispheres are equally illuminated by the sun. In the northern hemisphere it is when nights start to draw in and it is a time for reflecting on the changing seasons. Michaelmas is traditionally the end of the harvest and while not celebrated widely nowadays it used to be one of the four quarter days, when rents were collected, wages paid, farm hands hired.

St Michael is one of the archangels and defeated a dragon. Michael represents courage, justice and defence against darkness.

To celebrate Michaelmas this year, the Oakens gathered with a few other Bristol home education groups to sing songs, juice apples and prepare and share vegetable soup.

They did a performance of their songs and of St Michael fighting the dragon, then one of the tutors shared a story about dragons and how fighting dragons wasn’t always about mythical beasts but also about the things we struggle with inside ourselves. As the seasons turn it can be a good time to look inwards and try to fight our inner dragons. It is so lovely for the children to be able to take the time and space to do this. It’s also much easier to face your dragons when you are eating delicious homemade apple crumble surrounded by a supportive home ed community.

There are some lovely ideas for how you might want to celebrate Michaelmas here.