| Whitsun Festival |
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Each Winter the whole school celebrates the Festival of Whitsun, or Pentecost, in a hall beautifully bedecked with flying white doves made for the festival by the Lower School classes. This is the festival of the Holy Spirit, the divine force that became an inner flame, giving inspiration to the Apostles, so that they could carry Christianity into the world each with their own understanding, beyond distinctions of race or culture. Twelve candles representing the twelve disciples are lit from one central candle by a child from each of our twelve classes. At Whitsun we celebrate the Spirit of Community: that which enables human beings to meet; true to their own individuality while acknowledging and respecting the individuality of the other, and recognising what it is that binds us as humanity. After the descent of the Holy Spirit as tongues of fire, the Disciples could speak in many languages. Our differences and our universality are celebrated by the reading from the second chapter of the Acts of the Apostles in many different languages. This year teachers and students will speak in: English, Latin, Dutch, Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, Māori and Hebrew. At a time when religious and ideological differences are so heightened and divisive, this presents us with a powerful image of communality that celebrates diversity.
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