A Birthday Celebration

A birthday is a very special day, especially to a child who has only experienced life on Earth for three or four years! A special day deserves a special celebration, and Montessori knows how to honor the child while creating perspective on what a year means in the grand scheme of the universe. The beauty of the Montessori Celebration of Life lies in its tradition; each child is celebrated in the same way: with a candle, a birthday walk around the sun for every year of the child's life, and the child's choice of a song afterward. Below: one Villa di Maria child's birthday celebration in P2. She celebrated her third birthday with loving friends who honored her for the special human she is!The celebration starts with the Directress calling her up to the front of the class. The Directress (here, Jessie Braud) invites the child to retrieve the special birthday candle from its place and carry it carefully to the front table. The rest of the children are gathered upon the rug to watch.The Directress ceremonially lights the candle and invites the child to pick up the globe, to represent the world that will travel around the sun for every year of life. The lighting of the candle signifies the moment at which the child was born. There is a hush around the room as the gentle glow takes form.In preparation for the birthday celebration, the parents are asked to provide pictures for each year of the child's life. This child was born in Paris, a significance that is discussed with the other children. After discussing each year of life, the child walks around the sun (signified in some classrooms by a large rug with the sun at the center and a path around it to represent Earth's orbit; in this case, signified by a large circle on the floor marked by tape). The child walks with the globe around the "sun" while the Directress and her classmates sing: The earth goes around the sun, tra la, the earth goes around the sun, tra la, the earth goes around the sun, and then (the child) was one (then two, then three)!" Each year of life is celebrated in this way. Here, the Directress speaks of this child's first trip to China, where her father is from.And here, the child's favorite instruments: there are a lot of them! She says, "I like the violin best." Here, she gets ready to carry the globe around for her second year of life.At the end of the celebration, the child blows out the candle and the children sing "The Ladybug Song," per her request.And in case you were curious, Maria Montessori was born on August 31st, 1870!"We should walk together on this path of life, for all things are part of the universe and are connected with each other to form one whole unity."   -- Maria Montessori