Waldorf News

A Tour of Discovery in Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria

By Kolea Quincey and Marjorie Rehbach, Olympia Waldorf School

I had the good fortune this summer of spending a month in Eastern Europe with my good friend and colleague, Marjorie Rehbach. We awoke to the sound of church bells each day, for the ‘old’ country still measures time in this way and prepared to experience the activities that were part of  a tour that was organized by Sarnia Guiton of Sophia Services. She titled it; “In Search of the future, A Tour of Discovery in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria”.

Sarnia related to us that Anthroposophy was planted in these Eastern European countries early in the last century. Communism kept it underground, prompting it to grow strong roots. At the end of that era, it grew strong and firm above ground and blossomed with joy that it could now be free. We have known none of that in the West.  We felt the effects of oppression on some of the older generation of people wherever we went, but we also were able to experience firsthand awe and enthusiasm for Waldorf education in the younger people. Indeed, it has been said that the Slavs will lead the way in heart-thinking consciousness in the future.

We arrived in beautiful Budapest, the Paris of the east, and with our Waldorf guides we visited a baroque summer castle built for the emperor Franz Joseph and his wife Sisi, or Elizabeth, who is cherished by the Hungarians.  We learned a great deal about the history of this country and the difficult times that the people have been through. Sarnia had arranged for a wonderful network of people involved in Anthroposophy to shepherd us through our three Eastern European countries. They were so happy to meet us! After hearing about the history of oppression they had been through we began to sense why the Anthroposophical initiatives are unfolding with joy, dedication, and heartwarming creativity!

The first initiative that we were brought to was a charming little farm school that was being renovated by parents and students for a program for the children with sensitivities that make it difficult for them to attend larger Waldorf schools. The building was being insulated with hay and plastered with mud and everyone was involved! The people welcomed us warmly and treated us to a homemade, delicious traditional meal where fascinating conversations took place. We parted as friends and moved on to a medieval castle overlooking the Danube. I was particularly excited to see the exhibits that reflected the time period that I will be teaching this year!

One of the highlights of the trip came next when we hopped on a train and arrived in the city of Miskolc where we were picked up and taken to a beautiful little town in the hills where an International Waldorf Families Summer Camp has been held for the last 7 years. Due to low enrollment this summer, they had decided to cancel the camp. But when Sarnia wrote to tell them she was planning to bring a small group from Canada, the United States and Israel, the organizing camp families decided that they must go on with the camp!

The eight of us were the only participants and we enjoyed daily trips, artistic activities, conversations, and delicious food. We were treated like treasured guests and became dear friends with our hosts. We visited the Hamori Waldorf School where I snapped some pictures of the wall of postcards from North America that were displayed to celebrate the 100 years of Waldorf. I also snapped a pictures of the beautiful mosaic that the 6th graders work on each year that surrounds the outside playground and some of the 12th graders work.

We were treated to a talk by the administrator who related the joys and challenges of running a school with the Hungarian government involved. The last evenings at the camp were filled with traditional music and folk dancing that brought us a great deal of laughter and fun. They hope to continue with this camp and we certainly want to recommend this wonderful chance to meet Waldorf families from all over the world! We can learn so much from each other!

After leaving our blissful, heartwarming adventures in Hungary we began to experience the more dramatic landscape of Romania. Our crossing at the border took 5 hours! We had to have a new bus and driver replace the one who encountered the officials at the border in a bureaucratic way that we didn’t fully understand. We sang the day away while waiting.

Our first day was extremely moving for we visited Ellie Wiesel’s house and the sight where 38,000 Jewish souls were housed in the ghetto and then loaded on trains, most of whom did not return. The trains were bound for Auschwitz. We actually had a cousin of Ellie’s with us on the tour whose mother and father had been on one of those trains. Standing at the memorial to those people who died in the concentration camp was bewildering. How could such things happen? Ellie Wiesel wrote many books after surviving the camp. Eventually he won the Pulitzer Peace prize for the book which challenges people to never look the other way when people are being hurt.

We were happy to be on our way through the scenic Carpathian Mountains where we visited many lovely painted orthodox monasteries and rustic farming villages. I was charmed by the horse drawn carts that are still used daily and the village women in traditional dress going to church on Sundays. I also loved the storks who nested on the rooftops and telephone poles of the villages. This country is mysterious with many hidden layers and through our wonderful guides we have been helped to see beyond the surface of things. We spent a day in a biography workshop the Romanian way with George Oprea. We were then joined by two anthroposophists who helped us to appreciate the different healing places and nature beings of the gentle landscapes we passed through.

On our last evening in Romania these new friends invited us to a small Anthroposophical community that they are part of just outside of Craiova near the southern border. After admiring the new and interesting homes they are building, we had a pizza party and a sing along. Our host and hostess performed traditional Romanian and dramatic and lovely ‘gypsy’ music for us. It was surely a memorable evening!

No visit to Romania would be complete without a visit to Dracula’s Castle! We were treated to some more realistic history, but it was nevertheless fun and interesting.

Our final destination was the beautiful and sacred Rila Mountains in Bulgaria. There we were to connect with the work of a spiritual teacher, Peter Deunov, a contemporary of Rudolf Steiners’ (who recognized his work) with a movement based practice called Paneurythmy. We had two classes over two days to learn the basic movements and headed up the mountain for a yearly festival where more than 500 dancers would also be. After a 25 minute ski lift ride with a 1000 foot elevation gain, we hiked the last hour and ½ to dance at 8000′ to inspired, live music amidst the swirling clouds and blue skies of the country’s crown jewel, the Rila Mountains and the seven sacred lakes.

Paneurhythmy in the Rila Mountains, Bulgaria

We can look back on a life changing journey and feel so grateful to be a part of the greater movement that is Waldorf Education.

For more info on upcoming trips in 2019, keep tuned to www.sophiaservices.ca.
Sophia Services travels in search of soul as expressed within nature and among humankind. Amid our bustling lives are hidden doors that can open to experiences that nurture the heart and soul. We will go in search of these nurturing experiences – they can still be found in our present day world. When exploring in lands and cultures different from our own, we can open our senses from the inside out. Come – open some doors with us!