hi i've been to many gatherings, but i always enjoy hearing how people veiwtheyre 1st gathering & what they took back from it..impressions..experiences..stories..feelings..whatever so please, if this was your 1st gathering, please feel free to post some stories..ideas..anything here..and if you've been to many gatherings feel free to pop in & veiw the family through fresh eyes..& re-experience the awe we all felt at our 1st gatherings..and if you feel the spirit offer the gift of your wisdom & experience i think most will agree that it takes several gatherings before you truly understand & appreciate what it truly is.i know my 1st all i sawwas the crazy party..the sorta odd yet very freindly people..i caught glimpses accidently of the deeper workings of it..but it took a few years to really understand what it all meant..so i would imagine many 1st timers might have some questions too that can be disgussed here (forgive any typos..very exhausted havent slept since the sunrise on the 4th) just out of curiusity..how many 1st timers were in main meadow on the 4th during the silence?
Hey soaringeagle... This was my first gathering...I was only able to be there one night, due to some internal misunderstandings within our group, but other than that I can definately say that I will be attending future gatherings. The site was beautiful and all the camps and kitchens that we saw seemed well thought out and set up. I thought the drum circle was cool and a couple of friends of mine got to experience the Granola funk theatre. I didnt see alot of cops or forest rangers either, and from reading some of the posts in this forum, I was expecting whole batallions. I wish that we had stayed for the silence on the 4th but like I said we left earlier than expected. Oh, and I also saw you, but you were busy conversing with a few people, so I didnt come up and introduce myself..and was planning to later but didnt have the chance. Glad you had a good time and hope to run into you at future gatherings.
wanna go to the ithica regional? pick me up (and 1 other sister from here who desperately needs to get there) & lets go
i really didnt like my 1st gathering. it was my first and only so far. basically... there was a bunch of people that were... i dont know... not very accepting of me... i got many many bad looks, and the friends i were there with did also. when i had to poop, they made me poop in a huge like hole... they held my hands and i had to lean back, and they supported me while i shit. they also got VERY VERY angry when i didnt add any money or items to the hat thing they were passing around... i dont know, maybe i just didnt go to a very good gathering. i'm going to go to another one someday, and i'll see how it goes. right now, im not too kynd for the rainbow people. (can ya blame me?) but im always open to trying again! i have met some pretty cool rainbow family at some shows and stuff, they were always really kynd and stuff.. so this incident kind of surprised me...
hmmm..what gathering was it? angry you didnt put money in the hat? i have never ever ever seen that.. sure your encouraged to..thats howwe feed the family..but its strictly your choice to i like to giveall i can as long as i can still get home.. but thats just me some people never put in a penny & thats just fine..others have put in thousands doesnt make anyoneever any better then anyoneelse as for the dirty looks & stuff..the only reason i could see why that might happen is if you wernt aware & brought alcahol on site..or dropped cigarette butts on the ground (or other trash) as for the shitters..most rainbows dont mind the trenches much (theres an art to it so ya dont needanyone holding your hands..lol) but most of us are aware that some kitches, notably jesus & krishna kitchens tend to have better shitters..with real toilet seats & privacy..but they also might have long linestoo..the price you pay for luxury i guess oh..if it was the ocala regional..i can understand how ya feel..the rougher crowd tends to populate that 1..or...if you spent all the time there at A camp/bus villiage.. you missed out on the real beauty of the gathering definately come back home..i guarantee your next experience will be as blissfull most gatheringsare especialy if you avoid the alcahol completely
Sorry, man I dont drive, or else I would love to go to the Ithaca regional.....I was actually in Ithaca a couple of months ago.....nice town.
Huh? Maybe soaringeagle has a point? Were you following the "Rainbow way, or did you go not understanding? or maybe you just ran into someone who was burnt out and suffering from sleep deprivation? Maybe you were too close to A-camp? Or maybe you're just paranoid. The shitter situation is always the same. That's how large groups of folks do things in the woods. No porta-potties for Rainbow. It costs too much and they don't work too well out in the forest where there is limited access by vehicles. Maybe you're just not the camping type? I run into folks all the time who can't even bring themselves to use a very nice outhouse... The best thing you could do is educate yourself... Read the Rainbow guide for starters. Maybe ya just didn't know what you were getting into and weren't prepared. If it was just like every day life then it wouldn't be Rainbow.
When I had gotten back from my first and only gathering and folks asked me what it was like, I told them I had walked amongst saints and seen and spoken to angels. That was Michigan I'll make it too more thats for sure, knowing you folks are out there really helps me keep going. I thank you.
the first and only one I've been to was nuts! (In a good way) I was only there for a day, my brother got sick so I had to leave with him the next morning, anyways I went with my mom my step dad and my brother and just had the time of my life. one of my step dads' friends were there and he was just trippin off his ass running around screaming that the squirrils were trying to get his nuts, so everyone started calling him captin squirril. It was halarious. my mom was eating shrooms so she was interesting to be around. my mom's already really open and sexual and crazy (she was a nudist so that should give ya an indea. lol). my mom on shrooms is insane she's so funny, and that was just the first day, I can only imagine if I would of stayed longer. the people were so loving and caring.... anything we needed they found for us. people made us feel apart of the family right away. my mom had been going for awhile so she knew a few people and it made it even cooler. I met the coolest people in the world.
hey..i was there.. but i thought you were an angel & a saint too... just goes to show ya..you get there & it affects you..& you take it bafck with you when you leave
now that i have most of my brain power back i figger i could say what my first national impressions were... It was wonderful to see all the family there, so many people in one spot with more or less the same objectives. The site was beautiful with the mtns , the glades and the Fire Flies had an amazing showing and some awesome events, don't think i have ever seen quite that many fireflies in my life before all at once. I do have to say that it sort of shattered an image i had in my mind as well. Maybe in part because growing up i wasnt involved with "rainbow" but was raised in a life style very closely compared to rainbow minus the herb , shrooms and the other mind altering substances. To me there was a lack of spirituality a lack of coming together as a whole and in groups. To me it seemed almost cliquish and clannish. The love was missing a majority of the time and much of the time getting a hello , good morning or a luvvin you was like pulling teeth and in alot of ways it was more like a large campground with the groups of campers spread all over. I ain't saying I didnt enjoy it or that i didnt love every minute of it as a whole with the exception of it being so spread out allover creation and the law ppl running round with guns because i did. It was an experience i wont ever forget nor will i forget the folks i met while there but it did give me an alltogether new viewpoint and outlook on the family , maybe a more realistic look in the end.. Also decided that a snack shack is a much needed lil kitchen type place and from here on out we will have a snack shack at gatherings if nothing more than for a lil piece of flavor that our bodies seem to desperately crave after a few days of going without...
This Year was my first National Gathering and I must say I was really impressed. There were certainly misconceptions I had about the consistency or homogeneity of the people that would be attending. And although the variety of folks that showed up suprised me, almost everyone seemed to get along just fine as far as I saw. I met a ton of great people, drummed till I had holes in my hands and danced till I had holes in my feet. I am looking forward to making it to more gatherings and meeting more family.
(To me there was a lack of spirituality a lack of coming together as a whole and in groups) Seems like that in every gathering now
my first gathering was when i was 16,my brother brought me there to meet some poeple he spent time in a comune with. we would find out were it was by going to a bookstore and looking at a list of fairs and such they used to publish. it was to be one of many untill things went so bad in seattle i remember there was sooo much music,violins, quitars, sitars, banjos and of course drums. we sat around and listened to Dasie tell stories, there was this old dude who would preach about right and wrong and make us laugh and laugh. there was discutions were would be pass the feather and say our peice, then hear out the next person.runn around the woods naked and throw off the wall, (and sometimes discusting) things at the those who came to spy on us. there was plans made to meet during the year. we would at times hide to smoke pot, and the nghts would get so quiet you almost make out the whispers of a dozen conversations, my last one was in montana, it was not the same, alot more omieness you didnt have to hike in far and thers was an amazing lack of busses, I didnt see anyone i knew from the old days untill i as leaving and spotted spike (i swear he was wearing the same leather jacket ) directing traffic, he knew me right away and ask me why i wasnt in camp, talked to me like he had seen yesterday instead of 15 years before, realy confusing my freind, lol, man i miss those days and those people
This year was my first nationals and I had a GREAT experience. I went with very few expectations and was just sort of thrown in there blindly. Yes at first I was a little intimidated. I cried when I first got there because I was scared. We were out on the lawn where the people who had gotten tickets in Elkins were gathered to do their pleas. Everyone was yelling at one another, calling eachother names, being rude...etc. I thought that was what all the people were like...but then later as I started meeting more people...I found out that was simply what A-camp was all about. It took me a little time to get used to peeing in front of people. I'll never forget the time Joe and I were walking along the trail, exploring and this guy and this girl were pulling a cart in front of us...they just drop the cart and the two split in the trail...and the girl just dropped her pants right there...right off the trail. The look on my face had to have been priceless because here I was going WAY out of my way to pee and she just did it like nothing. I was shocked...but soon, I was doing nearly the same thing LOL. The fireflies were AMAZING...my travelling partner is from Oregon and he had never seen fireflies before...thought he was tripping the night that he woke up and looked outside...*giggles* I felt so good at Nationals, though. I met so many great people from all over, did a lot of dancing, hiking, and just generally relaxed and had a good time. Off in my own little world. The shitter was fine...I do backcountry camping, so it's no big deal. I cried when I left...I had met so many great brothers and sisters. The rainbow way has rubbed off on me in some ways. I found I really wanted to eat with my hands most of the time...peeing in public felt like no big thing anymore...I say "Hi" or "Good Morning" to random people on the streets still. I can't wait to go home again!
i had the greatest of times and met some real special folks ....but it was the most lackluster national ive seen people energy and chemicaly ......half the show it could have been ...
1/2 the show it could hsve been is twice what i expected from 1/8th the scpace, maybe 1/10th of the more experienced gathereers.. possibly 2/3 the people (no real guess there) & much of the other stuff being snatched by leos on the way in..concidering all we dealt with this year..i still thinkit was good oh..& dancingannie u mentioned something bout the 1st time peeing infront of people.. 1 of the things i remember clearly wasat main circle a brother & sister excited about meeting up later to poop together...only at rainbow huh?
*giggles* Rainbow kids are one of a kind! Never realized pooping together was a good date idea...I'll keep that in mind!
