Reminisce About Gatherings You've Been To.....

My first one was the best. Probably cause it was my first. It was in the Gila NF on the east fork of the Gila river, in 1977.

Was anyone at the Missouri gathering in 85", when the Air Force did a mock attack on us in F16s? I was dosed that morning, and thought it was the start of WWIII.

Anybody remember Moon Dancers talent show in the 86' and 87' gatherings in Pa. and N.C.?

I think it was the 81' gathering that a guy and his lady had a baby at the gathering, and the guy gave away 10,000 hits of acid to celebrate. I did eight hits that day.

I remember it snowed July 1st at the Oregon gathering in 98'.

That's just a few of my memories....which ones made it for you?

Just realized spell check couldn't spell "reminisce" either.

 

lol, that's better than giving out a box a cigars

 

Reminisce. I had to look it up. I'll fix the title for you.

 

I remember my first annual pilgrimage to the Externsteine during summer solstice season. Hundreds of pagans and heathens scattered all over. It was really awesome. I'm not a big fan of sharing my religious side en mass with a group of people even if we believe the same things, it's just too personal for me to congregate like this but the parties were damn cool and it's something we've done several years after. Feels good to skinny dip with 50 others that simply don't care and don't come to stare.

 

Thanks for making me look not so ignorant.

 

I told you that I had to look it up. I'm not sure I've ever had to spell it.

 

Sure would like to hear about this years rainbow gathering.

 

So sad....no Rainbow hippies here.

 

This year's gathering in the Black Hills .... I hitched in arriving June 19 just in time to play with the site-choice council , then left the area
about July 25 . There were numerous good springs to drink from with a dip of the cup , and then too , we had much more food than we
could eat . The tribal natives had a great effect on this Gathering . They were happy not to see any hippies naked , and also that those
who were going to build a ceremonial sweat lodge did not do that . In Council , these two requests got respect .

For 2016 , the Vision Council consensus is that the national gathering shall be in Vermont , New Hampshire or Maine .

There is a regional gathering exactly happening now in the White Mts of New Hampshire .


One time at a Kentucky regional I was also hitchin and the very first to arrive and the last to go . That forest was very mysterious -
a nine foot monolithic black stone man lay there and whose heart iz a tiny perfect valentine .

 

I went to college in New Jersey, it was a terrible place, some of the most negative people I have ever met lived there, true energy vampires. I was robbed like 6 times in 1 year, home invasion ripping the copper out of the walls destroying my art work type stuff.
I was driving my Toyota west, totally upset, knew I had to get out, I needed home. I found some hippy kids at a truck stop in Pennsylvania with "home" signs, I was within miles of the national gathering! I had such a terrible time with school and general life I had totally spaced on rainbow family. It was like they found me and pulled me home. I parked by some buses and scrambled down the hill in the dark without a light. I found a tea time, they got on my business about forgetting my bliss and had them pour really hot tea in my mouth. Wandering on I found some more hippy kids that guided me to the faeries where I fell asleep by a fire pit.

 

Wow, that almost gave me tears of joy. Imagine a guy being this happy that his baby is born and celebrate it like this. It's a really nice gesture. Not only because it's free, but imagine giving the gift of a mind expanding experience to thousands of people, who simultaneously trip. Imagine the atmosphere where you're baby gets born in...

I went to my first and only european rainbow gathering in Greece, about 2 years ago..
It was amazing
And very confusing.
There was nature and interesting people everywhere.. But I didn't know how to conform. (yeah, I know it sounds weird)
Everything was so weird and amazing at the same time.
I made amazing connections and watched the stars glide away behind the mountians.
It was way too cold every night, so I slept in the teepee, waking up to soft guitar music and people making coffee was just amazing.
O! And the morning glory coffee corner, that guy was amazing.
And the crickets every day were so pretty, and I tried digging a shitpit and wow, this is not even a comprehensive story anymore.
I remember flashes of good and bad, I stayed for 3 weeks, enjoying this massive emotional rollercoaster
I would love to go again some time and be prepared so that I can fully enjoy and contribute

 

The Black Hills - 2015

A young Lakota home-boy was with us from the beginning . He carried a rattle . He said ,
at first awkwardly , that this rattle was presented to him a child . Curiously , it was of a size
made for a man to carry . All through the gathering and unto the end I never saw him without
it . He learned to carry it well , with a confidence .

When first we met , on the first day of the gathering , he came to me where I was sitting
and presented his rattle shyly .

Pleased to meet him I had one question . Do you make music with this fine rattle .

Yes .

 

haha
haha
xD

 

Maybe he had been givin that raddle to build his confidence.

 

He seemed about 20 years old . And the 2015 Black Hills Rainbow Gathering was on 'his land' .
That is true , and we were strong for him . The tribal people of those mts are the of Sioux and
Cheyenne . It is sacred land . Sometimes sacred means the land is not to be owned - positively,
shared and cared for . For a few weeks Rainbow Family held a spot of this land in that trust .
There , Laughing Crazy Shanti , we drank deeply from the springheads . shanti seena

 

I remember seeing a shit ton of F-15's above the Utah Gathering years ago. Might have been around a decade now.

First Gathering was in the UP. Haven't been to a gathering in a long time. Traveling has it's problems.

I don't know why the Military does what they do with Gatherings. There are a lot of international people that go to Nationals.

I saw two F15's fly under the radar at a festival when the blackout occurred. Might have even been before the blackout by a matter of hours. They were so low that I could see the pilot fly by. Couldn't see what unit he was in, they were moving FAAAASSSST!

I think the military thinks things will evolve socially. They might lose funding? I doubt it, lol!

 

The military no longer participates in gatherings , and the Forest Service is generally somewhat better
behaved these recent years .

It was after that Utah gathering , perhaps the next year , that the internationals came to council suggesting
that the U.S. flag quit being flown upside-down at main circle . Awkwardly no one seemed to comment , but
that flag (( the flag of Distress , of reference to the Vietnam War )) disappeared from the center .

 

I have been to three gatherings in Aotearoa/New Zealand.
The first one I attended (2014) at Kauaeranga, Coromandel was located in the semi-rural part of Thames so there were houses overlooking the site and one neighbour made it his business to cause trouble by complaining about drumming, singing and nudity (with the latter he would have had to use binoculars).There was also a total fire ban and we had to use gas for cooking. There was a fire in the main tepee but no fire in the circle. The owner of the land did agree to a fire for Full Moon but this was carefully controlled within wire netting. We did some really zany things : 50 of us climbed into the tepee one night and cuddled and hugged each other for hours and sang rainbow songs. . Afterwards I was on a real high and got into another group hug with some travellers from Switzerland. I got to bed about 2.30am. Being a participation kind of person I found myself endlessly in the kitchen. We had fun and games on the morning of the Full Moon during the Silence, cooking. I had difficulty controlling the gas fire and the next minute the pots caught. We managed to salvage the food, but the food circle was 2 hours late. Everything ran late, the ceremony that I was part of finished being held after dark. I had agreed to be in the water element group. We did know what to do having had a dress rehearsal in the day working out a song, and various actions. I wasn’t so much worried about being naked but of the swimming at night. Anyhow the water was warm and the moon light was enough to see. We sang the River is flowing, hit the water, circled, came out and anointed the crowd with essential oils and got dressed. After that I waited in a long line to be painted with mud. When it came to my turn they were running out and so I had my head covered. I am telling you this because the next day I went back to Wellington and pulled in at the BP forgetting about my hair and almost caused the panic button to be pressed. Not helped by wondering around the shop asking where the chocolate was. It (the gathering) was a complete new experience to me, but I found my feet quickly. The brothers and sisters there were wonderful. I got on really well with the travellers and made some strong friendships. The other memorable thing was the music and the singing and the dancing to Yiddish tunes. The next one was at Tuateawa, also on private land. The heat was almost impossible. There was no talking circle on account of this. When I arrived many were leaving heading to a major alternative event, Kiwiburn, near Wellington. Again the gathering was very international with many young Germans attending. The most recent gathering was at Karamea. This event was very young, very anarchic, dominated by travellers and first timers. There was also a major issue with biting insects called sand flies. The moment you went down to the river you would be in a fog of insects. The Full Moon ceremony here was different apart from the morning of silence. Though I would have wished to be part of the ceremonial cleansing of the gathering at the river, in which everyone was naked, knowing my adverse reaction to sandflies I felt it was better to work in the kitchen. In the evening we had a coca bean ceremony and some of us danced naked around the fire.Later on I joined a crocodile of blindfolded people and we headed all over the place in a crazy way. The next day another storm rolled in, then cleared and it was safe enough to leave, though I asked for one of my passengers to get out and walk the ford before I got the car stuck. Anyway it was fine and I inched through with water gushing past and that was that.

 

Gotta love those tea timers! Lots of fun in a tea house!