Beneath the Rowan Tree: October 2017

Monday, 2 October 2017

Birthday Crowns :: Creating Meaningful Family Traditions

Celebrate your child's birthday with a very special, handmade birthday crown!

Birthday crowns are a tradition dating centuries and across many cultures. A crown marks the child as the centre of our joy and celebration! A birthday crown can be the heart of creating meaningful and lasting birthday traditions for your family.

Historical record suggests that the first birthday celebrations emerged in Germany ~ where a 'kinderfeste' (children's celebration) was held on the anniversary of a child's birth. This was marked with candle lighting, feasting and often, with the wearing of a special birthday crown.

Why a crown?

Perhaps it reaches back to the earlier tradition of marking the birth day of kings and high persons with parties and feasting and dancing ~ often done in early times in order to surround the leader with people in order to dissuade evil spirits who were thought to prey on them particularly on the anniversary of their birth.

Today, when we mark the day of a child's birth, a special crown may be worn (in the Waldorf as well as other, such as Israeli, traditions) by the child to identify them as the focus of our joy and celebrating! This is not to 'raise them above' or make them 'king for a day' but rather to instill a sense of belonging and being treasured, and having this experience be part of the family's yearly rhythm and traditions.

Making birthday crowns is one of my favourite creative endeavors.
Each crown made at Beneath the Rowan Tree is all natural, and made especially for a particular child.
Combining wet and needle felting, dyed silk, embroidery, beading, applique and other techniques
the crown takes shape (and is adjustable in size, lasting a lifetime!). All materials are ethically sourced and eco-friendly. Each crown heirloom quality to last a lifetime.

It is a delight to work with families to create something personal for their child.
Match a birthday theme.
Capture your child's favourite colours or animals or hobbies...
Some families choose one crown to be worn each year, others do something new each year...

Please visit the Crown shop at Beneath the Rowan Tree HERE

and the Gallery HERE.