Birthday interviews spread the Camphill joy and give a peek into life in the village
There’s nothing quite like a Camphill birthday. Across all of the communities, birthdays are huge celebrations, and just about everyone counts down the days until the next party.
“Everyone loves to celebrate their own birthday, but they also really love to celebrate other people’s” says Lindsey Flicker, a Camphill Village Minnesota alum who now works in community outreach. “People talk about their birthday for months in advance and look forward to being a year older, having a party, and eating cake. There’s always someone around ready to make a cake, and people love the opportunity to go shopping for someone and get them treats.”
Nicolo Betoni, a coworker alum, fondly recalls the birthday he spent at Camphill Village Minnesota, sharing that “you feel so overjoyed. Everyone celebrates you. All fifty people are saying ‘it’s your day today, let me celebrate you, let me write you all these cards.’ I’ve never felt like that.”
Because Camphill birthdays are filled with so much joy, Lindsey was looking for a way to share the celebration with people outside the village. She began conducting short “birthday interviews,” asking people questions about their life, what they’re looking forward to, and what they do in the community. Lindsey began sharing these interviews, paired with fun photos, on Camphill Village Minnesota’s Facebook page.
Several years later, the tradition is still running strong, and receiving a phone call from Lindsey has become a staple of celebration preparations at Camphill Village Minnesota. “Folks definitely expect a phone call from me as their special day approaches,” she says. “They’ll answer and say “oh, you’re calling about the birthday interview!”
Beyond extending the joy of Camphill into the broader community, Lindsey explains, the birthday interviews “also serve as a way to give people a voice about their life in Camphill.” The posts are always met with well-wishes and greetings in the comments, which Lindsey loves to share with people back in the village. “They get so excited, even at comments from people they don’t even know. It’s just really sweet.”
Take a peek into some of the birthday interviews below:
