Our Annual Festival of Lights Celebration

Our community once again will enjoy our annual Festival of Lights celebration in its full glory in the gym next Friday, December 16 at 9:30 am! This event is a special Burgundy tradition in which the community is treated to performances from every class. Since its inception, the Festival of Lights (FOL) has included many different cultures and traditions from around the globe as a way for students to learn about people both like and different from themselves and how the theme of ‘light’ represents hope and humanity in each. The overall performance, which runs about 75 minutes, provides an opportunity for us to model things that we value: our diversity, our appreciation for the arts, our commitment to community, and, most important, our shared humanity. Through choral and instrumental pieces, narratives written by students, and dramatic presentations, we are taken on quite a journey. The Festival of Lights is an annual rite of passage that our students, their families, and our employees remember for years to come! 

We continue to reflect on and review our FOL program in light of our mission and the goals for the FOL: we explore our FOL goals and current contexts, and we look to see where improvements can be made. We think about whether or not anything needs to be modified to respond to shifts in cultural/societal norms or the make-up of our community. And we make adjustments and try new material. Our review process has led us to make some important modifications over the last few years that we’d like to highlight. These changes support our efforts in maintaining our commitment to the spirit and objectives of the festival and we’d like to share our thinking behind some of them.

• Costume selection/requested attire is now more gender inclusive. We try to use gender-inclusive language when communicating with children and parents about what students should wear to FOL. We allow students in each grade to make costume/role choices independent of their identified gender. A specific example is with the Kindergarteners and 8th graders, who, for the last few years, have been able to choose their role in the Santa Lucia performance based on interest rather than gender. 
• First graders sing songs to reflect an additional religious tradition represented in our community, that of Unitarians. These songs share a powerful message of peace, light and tolerance. 
• You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, will be sung this year by the faculty singers.

Our music teachers have already begun working with the students on their performances and our classroom and/or drama teachers have begun sharing background information with the students about the cultural/religious traditions that will make up their part of the performance. This integrated learning is a hallmark of Burgundy and results in an engaging experience for the audience and a significant learning opportunity and special Burgundy tradition.

Although the meaning of the Festival of Lights has remained largely consistent throughout its many years, we will continue to examine this celebration to ensure that we provide a respectful, thoughtful and meaningful experience for the community as a whole.

We look forward to sharing our tradition with you!

With peace and light,

Jeff, Elizabeth, Jared, Pat, and the Music Team