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Published: November 4th 2006
A sign hung at Rainbow
"Rainbow Gathering Colorado 2006. WELCOME HOME. LOVE ALL. Respect sensitive areas. Respect your Trueself. Practice Loving All living things & People. This world needs you NOW! Global Emergency.
* Chris- yup chris, my now former fiance and best friend.
* Michelle- My girlie! Also referred to as "M" or "Shel" in my writings.
* Boobacita- M's Mom! Totally bad ass chickita!
* Pavel- Chris' and My's good friend from the Czech Republic. He's also a roommate of ours, and a good one at that!
* Chung- He's the buff Korean dude in all the photos. We've known him for a while too, he can pretty much be seen at any time of the day playing guitar, drawing, doing martial arts…or smoking.
* Dan- Our friend that gave us the original idea for the bus and running on veggie! Also introduced us to Rainbow three years ago!
* Rayven- Introduced to us by Dan. He also has a schoolie that runs on veggie, and is our technical engineer for Organic Mechanic.
* Jen- Rayven's girlie and mother of their son, Babu- they're self named 2 year old.
* Nemo- An older man that parked next to the bus and quickly became our friend. Rainbow Dictionary:
* Welcome Home!- Welcome Home!
The Welcome Home Station! See me getting drawn on? (This was actually on July 2nd, my birthday!) greeting said to and by everyone at Rainbow. The concept is that anyone with a belly button is Family, and when we come to Rainbow, we're coming home!
*
Lovin' You!- another greeting passed to and from everyone.
*
Babylon- is the name of society. Basically the world outside of rainbow- consumerism, politics, careers, etc.
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Rainbow Land- Rainbow! This is basically when you get past A-Camp and are in the woods, knee deep in hippies, love, nature, and freedom.
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A-Camp- the first camp you come across at rainbow, filled with drunks and aggressive people. They act as a symbiotic partner to Rainbow land in that they direct traffic to park, as well as keep out tourists who would be scared to hang out with this riff-raff. Rainbow land provides them the freedom to live this way, as well as the massive amounts of people that they can actually gather too without being removed by Six-up.
*
The fourth- refers to the Fourth of July, which is the major day of prayer and celebration at Rainbow. It represents the independence of the Rainbow tribe, and they pray for world peace, are silent until noon,
Hiking in!
Our little gang of Rainbow Newbies! Doesnt Chris look like a pimp?? and then celebrate all day with drums, dancing, blessings, etc.
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Six Up!- this is screamed by anyone who sees a police officer or ranger in order to warn anyone within lung-screeching range to put anything illicit away, or just be on the look out for trouble. The name comes from the fact that an officer carries a six shooter. They're also called LEO's.
*
Six Up Giddy Up- this is a warning that there are Six Ups on horses coming your way.
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Shake Down Lane- was the spot at the entrance of rainbow about a quarter mile out of where A-camp is, that the cops were shaking down cars for drugs, and trying to scare people away by telling them "did you know this is an illegal gathering, and that they have wild dogs and no toilet paper in there?"
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Pocket Trash- a phrase yelled when people were hauling trash out of the woods. "We carry your trash so you don't have to". We basically want to try and get the trash out of our pockets and intp the trash, not the forest.
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Zu-Zu - is basically a treat. Anything yummy
Grandfather Rainbow!
I wish i had gotten a non-blurry pic of this guy! He's old, dressed funky as hell, and rides a mo-ped (which is why he's blurry!) like chocolate, cookies, Krishna cookies are a good example…mmmm.
*
Shantasena- Not sure about the spelling for this, but said like Sean-ta-see-na. It basically means "hey! There's trouble going down here, someone come help!". Essentially everyone is shantasena - if you have a belly button you are responsible.
*
All in love… - this is said if you want to tell something to someone that could be perceived as controversial, but want to preemptively stop controversy. For example, "All in love sister, but you may wish to ask the mothers before you take pictures of children" which was said to me as I took a picture at Kiddy Camp!
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Random Pocket Trade- a little game where you stop a random person and ask them to play. You basically reach into your pocket and pull something random out, without knowing what they're going to give you. Pretty fun!
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Smoke, Joke, or Toke- Along the trails there are little troll stops with people that are lounging talking. They'll call out as you walk by- Smoke Joke or Toke! Meaning, give us a cigarette, a joke, or some pot. No one HAS to give anything, but its
Chung in his element
Is that not freaking awesome? Once there, Chung was definitely Home. fun to at least tell them a joke and everyone shares time and space for a minute.
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"Food in the Woooods"- You can hear this at night being screamed from a kitchen that has dinner ready.
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Rainbow Mush- most of the food at rainbow was rice based. Rice and beans, rice and pepper, rice and TVP…so a lot of it had a mush consistency.
Part 2a- Rainbow (Days 1 and 2)!
A little background first of course! For the past three years Chris and I have been trying to get to the Rainbow Gathering since we met our friend Dan our Sophomore year of college. He told us great tales of him Hitchhiking for months at a time, coming across amazing interesting people, people with busses, people with vehicles that ran on Vegetable Oil, and this amazing place called the Rainbow Gathering. An event of magical proportions that is held in a new National Forest every year around July 4th. It is a place that THOUSANDS of people gather, create a sustainable community in the woods, live, love, pray for world peace, and have a life changing experience. To Chris and my's wonder
Chris with his first cup of Rainbow Coffee
Lots of grounds and bitter...supposedly. I dont know, i dont drink coffee! Joke: "What do rainbow cigarettes, rainbow coffee, and rainbow women all have in common? *Spit* *Spit* *Spit*" Hehe! Compliments of Dan lusting brains this felt as though we had stumbled upon some great Messiah who had come to shake our lives into action. (For more on the Rainbow Gathering see it here and at wikipedia)
This is what started our mission to get a big ol' school bus and make it run on veggie oil so that we could travel wherever we wanted on free fuel, in a house on wheels. And thus Earth Tribe was formed (a presently disbanded crew of our friends with this mission who got the community involved in our goal to travel and spread the word on alternative fuels...and hopefully pay for the bus!), and La Fonda Olive, our beautiful bus, was spawned. But we did not finally "Come Home" until this year. Why? Because 2004 we ended up living in the bus in middle-of-no-where Missouri to learn from and potentially incorporate into Greasel (now known as Golden Fuel Systems), the company that converted our bus to run on Veggie. We eventually split from Greasel and formed our own business of course, now known as The Organic Mechanic. Then last year we were too busy being Nihilistic and uber focused on building our business and
Chris helps make Oatmeal
Yay helping at Rainbow! Volunteering is what makes Rainbow happen! going to summer classes for college.
But this year we were determined to go, we had to. The cosmos were lining it up for us. It was finally time to go "home" (and the award for most Corny Line goes toooo....) I hope this isn’t too redundant from my past blogs, but if it is- oh well! Thanks for trudging through it again! Haha!
The first leg of the trip I already wrote about of course, so check that here if you haven’t. It's the road trip and it’s full of lots of moaning about the mechanical workings of the bus and such. And that leaves off as follows (side note- this should be read supplemented with Missy's less verbose version here!):
We followed the "Home" signs and the rock formations that lined the trail until we finally came to the entry of Rainbow.
Rolling in behind the jam packed purple bus in front of us we passed the first camp of the whole gathering, A Camp. We got a pretty much "no hassle" card because we came with a bus, but usually A camp is where the tourist shake down occurs. A camp is where
your gutter punks, your street rats, your drunks stay. It's an interesting symbiotic relationship really...between A camp and the rest of Rainbow Land. A camp acts as the parking directors and bouncers kind of- the grungy crew of beggars hangs at the front "gate" (not a gate in sight of course, just the entrance) and yell "Throw water" "Throw cigarettes" ask for money and food and roughly tell people where to park. They fight, have angry dogs...that fight sometimes too, and swear while walking around with beers in hand. This tends to both keep the tourist population to a minimum (anyone who doesn’t know that in the woods a few miles back is where the beauty is isn’t likely to try and hike in to deal with more of these punks) and also tends to give rainbow a bad name to the public since it is the face of rainbow a lot of times- the only part some people see. It is also the only area in Rainbow where alcohol is "allowed". No will take it from you if you have it in rainbow, but you may piss some people off if you have it and the reason is it
Six-Up in trade circle
My crew of Six-up doing their thing in Trade Circle has the potential to bring about yucky, inappropriate, angry vibes- like at A camp.
So anyway, we make it past A camp being directed to park to the left in Bus Village. Luckily it was marked with cardboard signs pointing, which meant Michelle would have some idea of where to go to find me in two or three days when she arrived. We park the bus, excited and nervous, really not knowing a damn ounce of what to expect. I threw on my Camies and a sports bra and loaded up my small backpack with a few supplies for the day. The plan was for us all to hike in and try and find Dan (yep, the original Dan!) and Rayven (our mechanic for the business and friend) to set up camp near them. No one in our crew had actually been to a Rainbow Gathering yet, except our temporary crew member Alley the Hitchhiker. We set off up the road we had been pointed towards the woods and all the camps for the first of MANY hikes in (and out). Two miles in from the parking lot to the Tree Line and "Welcome Home" station. The entire way
Kiddie Village
One of the Swingsets built by Rainbows for the Kids! people were smiling huge at us and saying "Welcome Home!" and "Lovin You!". We shyly thanked them, not knowing yet what to say back to them. Thinking back about it now, we probably SERIOUSLY looked like newbies! Hahaha! I know by the second and third day there I had grabbed on to the culture enough to be able to spot the difference someone new and throw them a encouraging "Welcome Home!" and a returning "Family member" and yell a familiar "Welcome Home!". Both ways, there’s no doubt that everyone was made to feel comfortable and welcome in a way they can never find anywhere else with so many strangers. It's beautiful really.
When we got to the end of the drivable road and came to the trail to walk in we were asked by some people to carry in some water pipes if we had free hands. Knowing the way Rainbow works is that no one is assigned jobs, but everyone cooperates in order for this to work- we took two loads in. We got plenty of "Thank you brothers and sisters for bringing us water!" as we snaked our way through the very new world set up in
Stiffy!
The six-up I named Stiffy! See the flower i gave him behind his ear?? the middle of the woods. What did our still Babylonian eyes see? Tents all over the place! People setting up "Bliss Pits" (fire pits), huge kitchens and camp/villages with specific names I recognized from the tons of stories Dan and Rayven have told me- names like Jesus Kitchen, Turtle Soup, Kiddie Village, Krishna Kitchen, Warriors of the Light, ChessGoTea, Yoga Village, Bread of Life, Nick at Nite (or Naked at Nite), and so on. We saw people of all age, infants on up through people in their 60s, and dogs TONS of dogs- which made me miss my Kya very very much. People cooperating, sharing, laughing, sleeping, basically...living.
After hiking in the pipes all the god damn way to where the future Krishna Kitchen would be (by the big tent and yoga village Shel) which was several damn miles into Rainbow we were able to go searching for our friends. We walked all the hell over that place and I realized how easy it would be to not be able to find someone you were looking for, especially if that person didn’t know anything about Rainbow or where you may be (in other words...I was NOT letting Michelle wander
Me and my crew
Here's my crew! When hippies and LEOs meet up, time and space warps obviously. around looking for me on the very general instructions I had given her before seeing this whole world). No luck trying to find them so finally I told Chris "Forget it, we need to go get our tent and find a place to pitch it before it gets dark. It will just have to happen that we find them". So we headed back to the bus to get the rest of our gear and who did we see as soon as we came onto the drivable road? Babu! That’s right! The cutieass son of Rayven and Jen! Where Babu was his parentals were sure to follow, and thus the first cosmic lesson of Rainbow- "If you are looking for something, you're not going to find it. It needs to come to you" a lesson that was to be proved to me two more major times my 10 days there in the woods.
We helped Rayven and Jen set up their camp near the Welcome Home station as they wanted to start a Tea Kitchen to hand people tea if they wanted it as they hiked in. We decided we too would set up here, next to a beautiful creek and a very shitty two log, un-mud packed bridge. Our camp would later be dubbed "Shitty Bridge Creek"! And as Michelle points out, it was terribly unrainbow of us to complain about the bridge the first few days, as if maintenance should come and fix it. HAHAHAA! Riiiight! It was our bridge, we should fix it! But we didn’t, we instead mastered the skill of side stepping across the four foot gap (very impressed with Michelle's shitty bridge crossing skill improvement over the days btw) and enjoyed watching other people try and teeter across it.
After setting up our tent we found ourselves with an unfamiliar amount of time on our hands. No sales to record, no packages to put together, no emails to answer, no phone calls to make, and certainly no Instant Messenger! But there were stars, oh MY were there stars! And drum and guitars filled the air. Fire pits with strangers lounging as though they were family. Kitchens yelling "Food in the Wooooods!" Did I mention the stars? Thus the end of day one was spent in front of a fire listening to Chung play his guitar and sing to his new family, and then crawling into my tent.
The second day was quite interesting as well! Actually, all days were interesting so I won’t get in the habit of comparing one day to the next. I switched my sports bra out for my bikini top and did not change from that day forth. Chris and I went and found some breakfast at Turtle Soup, a very chill kitchen he had found the night before with Pavel. We offered our help and set to work collecting firewood and organizing while the oatmeal cooked in a huge pot on the fire pit and people sat around telling stories, cleaning dishes, stirring pots, making coffee and cutting fruit. It was here where we learned the etiquette of making and serving food at Rainbow to ensure cleanliness and decrease of germy exchange. The server must first wash their hands well, then while serving they have to make sure they are not serving over top of the bowl of food (incase food or the actual persons bowl drops), also the serving utensil should NOT touch the person's bowl. This leads to a very awkward exchange of food really, that looks kind of like you are throwing a ladle full of SHHHLOP into someone's bowl or cup- but its clean!
We had also learned from our first day what to carry on and with us. A day pack could be useful if you had planned on staying out the whole day and potentially at night. Fill it with something warm, because as HOT as it was during the day, it was going to get COOOLD at night!. A walkie talkie could be useful if you needed updates about Six Up (to be described in a moment) or if you needed to contact CALM (the volunteer medic system, which my friend Dan who is certified, was part of) "CALM's on 3". I had pretty much picked up on the fact I didn’t really want to carry a pack around with me, so attached my gear actually TO me as most people did, with Carabeaners, and filled my pockets with my Juice multitool, my camera (which grew shittier and shittier as the days in the woods took its toll on my simple and foreign electronic gadget), and later the pretty rocks I had found as trinkets to give away as gifts and trades. I clipped my utensils, my lighter, my cup/bowl (the red thing in the pictures of me), and my flashlight to my belt loops. This of course made my pants relatively heavy and so I had to do quite a bit of "pull up" stops as I hiked constantly around that place, though I'm sure the site of my bootay crack wasn’t an aberration to all the hippies everywhere (same with my freaking right boob that just would not stay in my top!! Kept trying to sneak out!). Hehehe, one time Shel and I were walking back to the woods from the parking lot and she challenged me to see if I could actually walk my pants off/down. Wasn’t sure if my baby bare'n hips would allow for such a goal...but...I was wrong. Oh, right...getting side tracked. Back to Day two, she wasn’t there yet.
So after breakfast on Day two Chris and I went back to our camp and heard call after call-out of "SIX UUUUP!" This means da MAN is coming. And DAMN was there a LOT of them coming in! We could see crews of 8-10 trekking up the foot path to the tree line. Not only were their Six Up on foot, but there were 5 "Six Up Giddy-up", which of course means da MAN on horses. Quick background- Six up refers to the six rounds of the revolver, so Six Up officially refers to any officer of the law with a weapon, they are also called LEO's which I'm not sure where that comes from. A park ranger with no gun or something else of such nature would be called a Seven Up (just because). The benefit and purpose of yelling out Six Up is that any illicit substances can be stashed, fires put out, fights broken up, booties put away, whatever have you. It's a pretty nifty system actually.
I’m personally not one to shy away from law enforcement if I know I'm not doing anything wrong (even though technically all 15,000 of us were- gathering with out a permit), so I went pretty much right up to the trail and watched them come in. Like some weird aliens. They were the odd ones. They were the inappropriately dressed outcasts of society here, and they were deliciously out numbered...and they knew it too. I stood at the Welcome Home station and watched them huddle together, trying to look tough but also trying to be open-minded (I give them that credit). I waved at a few that posted momentarily with their hands on their utilities belts (you know how they do that shit) who were scanning the woods for threats and caught me in their sites...all they would see were a bunch of dirty folks smiling at them, saying "We love you!" and "Welcome home brothers!". A few people yelled "Go Home!" or piped into the radios "Do NOT talk to the Six Up!!!" but most people just showed them the love they showed us all. The idea is "If you have a belly button, you're family."
Rayven asked me if I had a radio working, I said I did. He said I should go be an escort! He got his own radio and took to the first crew of Six Up that walked by. I looked at Jen for guidance on what to do as a chick in this situation and she smiled and encouraged me "GO!"...so I did! I grabbed my walkie talkie, clicked to channel 5 and hopped behind a crew of eight. I heard Rayven check in on his radio "This is Rayven with the first crew of LEO's, I have 10 and am heading up main trail", and so...I checked in "This is Dani with the second crew. I have 8." And so went my second day at Rainbow! The 8 threatening strangers in uniform went from being people I kept a close distance from and answered questions cautiously to being "My Crew". It was really an interesting experience!!
They started out chuckling that I had been "assigned" to this job. I told them no one assigned me, I volunteered. They made comments about "Well we certainly got a better looking guide than the other day!" (I was still in my Camies and Bikini top), I chuckled not at all as I called into the radio that we were on the move. They asked my name, and I told them, still cautious. But as we walked...for miles...and miles...and HOURS and HOURS...it became a much friendlier relationship! I screamed SIX UUUUP as we made our way through the trails and paths, warning the camps and family ahead. They jumped at first, said "you know...you don’t HAVE to yell that" then eventually they reminded me to say it! Haha! They joked with me about screaming "Six Up from the Diaphragm", asked me what it meant, and I tried to coax them to yell it themselves if they could do better! That always shut them up with a chuckle.
I learned to appreciate their side as I escorted them through our world. They had families too. They liked the woods too. Their main concerns really (and I got to see this for sure) was that the woods didn’t burn down. There was a fire ban because of the lack of rain (and damn was it dusty the whole time), and they mostly had people put out fires as we went from kitchen to kitchen, camp to camp, tent to tent. For some reason they would tell me "Dani, this person can’t have this or that" point to an unmanned campground that had a fire pit...I looked at them like "aaand?" I think they expected me to know the Rainbow authorities and report to them the camp site number to have the campers talked to or something. PAH!!! What authorities?! I was as authority as they were going to run into, and it was my second day EVER at rainbow. So, every once and a while I would talk to the campers around to tell them the deal instead of the po-po doing it, to make the crew move on.
My favorite thing was that I got to break down their fronts, and put down my shields. I got to joke with them, to share ideals with them, to learn from them. I also was making valuable "In's" with the law enforcement! They all liked me! I even gave two of them Rainbow Names! The first one I gave was to the most up tight one of the bunch. He was bullet proofed up, had the hat, the sunglasses, and the sneer 'n chuckle. I broke him down after some playful jests and just him getting to understand not all hippies were trash. When the crew and I were walking through Main Meadow I was telling a story in between reporting our location into the radio, and we stopped for a second. This particular office says "you have a moth on you" and reaches down to my hip and gently gathers this bug off of my bare skin and puts it carefully on a blade of grass...dude even named the species or whatever...and I laughed! I grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him saying "That was SUCH A HIPPY thing of you to do!!!" and plucked a flower from beside me. The rest of the crew laughed and said "give him a rainbow name!" so I slipped the flower into his sunglasses and said "Stiffy!" Ohhhhh GOD did they love that one! Haahahahaa! Stiffy he was known as from then on! And he kept the flower in his glasses the whole rest of the day we hiked.
I gave flowers to other officers too. One in specific was this old Barney Fifer type guy who was responsible for taking all the mug shot photos. He was dubbed Kermit, by his own request really. I liked him, he watched out for me. Even informed me when my bikini was coming a bit loose. Cutie old dude!
It is absolutely amazing to be in a place where you don’t have to give a dern about how you look. You could be dirty, you could be butt-ugly, you could be all sorts of deformed, and you still would be loved. And for walking around half naked...I tell you ladies...I got the most respect I have ever, and LEAST amount of cat-calls I have ever gotten, which really felt safe.
Before I cut this part off here (as we're on page number 6 in Word!), wanna tell about leaving my crew. Hehehe! They finally decided they had been out there long enough and checked the place over and over enough and headed towards to entrance. One of the quieter LEOs came to me and said "The Boys want to know if you'll take a picture with us"! I told them I dunno if it’s a good idea for me to be one film and file! Hahaha! But I said I would trade them for it. If they all autographed a citation ticket for me (without MY name on it heheeh) then I would take it with them. DEAL! Not only that, but I also got to take a pic with my camera! So...I got a ticket signed with all their names, and yes their Rainbow Names AND a pic of me throwin peace signs in the middle of a crew of Rangers! HAHAHA! I love that shit!
So I'll end this one here and let you rest your eyes. The next part...GUESS WHO shows up! Having fun yet?! Wish you were there? Maybe next year!!
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rainbow_gathering
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Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes
SECOND GLOBAL RAINBOW GATHERING OF THE TRIBES Nov. 1st-30th 2008 The County/Municipio of La Paz, Baja California Sur - México We, who are brothers & sisters, children of The Great Spirit, families of life on earth, friends of nature & of all people, children of humankind calling ourselves Warriors of the Rainbow and/or the Rainbow Family and the Rainbow Global Network invites: All races, peoples, tribes, communes, men, women, children, individuals out of love. All nations & national leaders -- out of respect All religions & religious leaders -- out of faith All politicians -- out of charity, to join with us for the Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes taking place in the County/Municipio of La Paz, Baja California Sur Mexico from November 1st-30th of 2008. This is an open and totally non-commercial event with no monetary sales of goods or services. Barter and Trade are acceptable and encouraged. It is a-political & a-religious and all decisions are made in Councils of all those participating who desire to have their voices heard. The General Consensus of the Councils on whatever decisions are made are the guidelines for all to respect. Traditional Consensus decision reached over the years on whom and what we are, how Gatherings work, etc. can be found by logging onto the Rainbow website: www.welcomehere.org and particularly going to the Rainbow Guide segment and downloading the Mini Manual supplement. This provides a good general outline that most Rainbow Gatherings utilize to formulate the event. There are no fees, admissions or membership requirements past the respecting of the land, the people attending, the people and communities around us and each in our own ways working toward fulfilling the Prophecies of the Warriors of the Rainbow: “When the Mother Earth is sick and the animals dying there will come a Tribe of Peoples from all Cultures who believe in deeds, not words, and they will restore the Mother Earth to her former beauty. This Tribe will be called The Warriors of the Rainbow.” In the interest of protecting the Mother Earth you are encouraged to participate in helping keep the land in its natural state by treading lightly upon it. Please respect everyone's right to use the land in a peaceful manner and help spread the love of nature in thoughtful and meaningful ways. The Spirit of who we are as a human tribe in harmony is the ultimate validation of our common creed. We are the Rainbow Nation and our collective beauty shines even in the darkest of times, and it is the gift of peace that we bring to share with the world. Let it shine! Guidelines and Information: Harm no living thing; use only down dead wood, cut no living trees or plants. Do not litter and if you see litter pick it up for deposit in the appropriate place. Separate trash for recycling and deposit at collection sites. Put any vegetable matter in compost pits. Protect our water! Use no soap within 50' of streams. Do not pee or poop in or near water areas. (150' away) Do not camp above springs. Use your own cup, bowl, and spoon, wash them thoroughly, including a bleach dip. Use only latrine trenches. Clean up after children and pets. Cover feces and toilet paper with dirt and ashes. Wash hands (break the fly connection! Feces-fly-food- you). Visit CALM if you feel ill, especially if you might have a communicable disease. Drink only water that has been filtered or boiled briskly for 10 minutes. Keep your camp secure. "Tempt not, lest ye be lifted from". Pets should be left at home whenever possible. Be responsible for your animals. Keep them out of kitchens, food, and fights. Keep only community fires. Discourage all forms of drug overindulgence. Participate in Shanti-Sena workshops and activities. Weapons are inappropriate. Engage in no violence. Volunteer, share and give from your hearts. Join us on the 1st -2nd of November to celebrate the host Counties’ Traditional Day of the Dead, giving honor to all those who have gone before us in the causes of world peace, the healing of the Mother Earth, injustice and the Rights of all Beings. Please note that we include all artists, musicians and people of the arts in general who have contributed to these things. Join with us at noon of November 16th for a one hour Silence for World Peace and the Healing of the Mother Earth. We encourage all those who cannot attend the Gathering to maintain that silence where and with whomever they are with at the moment. Note that the time is based on U.S. Mountain Time. Donate to the Magic Hat which is our means of covering all costs of the Gathering, insuring that sufficient supplies come in to attend to all the needs of the people. The Magic Hat is passed at all Councils and meal circles each day. Make sure to bring your intended contribution to those collection points. Things to Bring: Camping Equipment Sleeping Bags / Blankets Rain Gear / Tarps Candles, incense, chimes, drums and acoustic instruments to share the fun things Kitchen Equipment for Community Kitchens (think large sizes of everything) Small hand tools Swimming outfits / tubes Personal first-aid kit Sun screen / Lip Balm Water filter / Containers Broad brimmed hats are appropriate for this desert country The Rainbow Family/Warriors of the Rainbow is not for anyone to control as it is freedom in raw form. The Consensus of the General Rainbow Council of all those attending is the sole decision making body. Rainbow General Councils since their inception have reached strong consensuses that nobody is the leader and no group outside of the whole of all peoples attending may claim authority over anybody or anything related to the Gatherings, Events or Projects done in the name of all people who are valid members of the Rainbow Tribes and by extension the Global Network of all Rainbow Peoples. Ignore any Rumors of Cancellation or Leadership! Spread the word and spread the peace! Remember that the Prophecy of the Warriors of the Rainbow is the foundation and guiding principle of what we now call The Rainbow Family, the Rainbow Tribes, the Warriors of the Rainbow and a myriad of events and projects which now occur around the world under many Rainbow names. From the founding of Rainbow, in its’ now many forms, in a Tipi, in Councils under a tree and in an open field at the Vortex Gathering in 1970, where Greenpeace was also founded, we have come a very long way by following the concepts set forth here. We are now Global in scope and often called the worlds’ biggest disorganization. Our projects worldwide encompass a myriad of projects which seek to alleviate many problems facing humanity and all species. Rainbow Activism is well documented and has dealt well with every challenge which it has faced for those efforts come from the hearts, minds, soul, spirit and the hands of the people involved in each aspect. You are all Welcomed Home to the Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes in Baja California Sur, Mexico. Bring you workshops, presentations of any projects that you are engaged with which would foster the accomplishment of the Prophecy of the Warriors of the Rainbow. Bring your music (live acoustic), dance, theater and all good fun things to share in this Celebration of Life. We are all Volunteers and your participation insures that you are an accepted part of the whole. CONTACT: rainbow_gathering@yahoo.com for more information and to add yourself to the primary Gathering mailing list. P.S. Youtube.com has many videos of Gatherings which can be accessed by searching: Rainbow gatherings: http://youtube.com/results?search_query=rainbow+gatherings&search_type= There are also has a couple of good presentations via a search for Warriors of the Rainbow: http://www.youtube. com/watch? v=utBkbJIYMy8 Facebook.com is the host for the page: Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes and anybody wishing to be actively involved with the creation and furthering of this event should join that site: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16127417116 www.welcomehere.org the best all around Rainbow website and new comers would be well advised to learn what they can of Rainbow from there in order to make the Gathering a smoother flowing event with everybody informed of the basics. Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes Progress Report: As we continue our efforts they begin to bare fruit. We are still not settled on which site to choose as that will be next months Scouting Council and General Council following that for a final decision. That said, there are agreements being reached that a few of the following projects should be part of the Gathering proper: 1: The opening days November 1st & 2nd are the traditional Day of the Dead Ceremonies/Celebrations here in Mexico, days to remember and give honor to those who have passed before us. It is proposed that we inaugurate the Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes with our offerings of thanks to all those who have gone before us in the efforts to Heal the Mother Earth and further World Peace. Of course that list is long and it will take everybody coming to the Gathering to list and create some kind of thanks offering to those who are seen, locally, continentally and globally as worthy of our respect. Traditionally shrines are created so that those who give honor to the particular person can spend whatever time paying respect and offer whatever in memory of the dead. Each person or group into creating such a shrine would be responsible to make it well and make sure folks know who the person was and what he or she did that is worthy of respect. It is further proposed the in the event that if such person was a musician there should be a stage (acoustic) where whoever wishes to play and sing those persons songs may do so. John Lennon, Jerry Garcia, Janis Joplin and a whole slew of others come immediately to mind, but there are no specific ones which people have committed to volunteering for and creating at this moment. 2: High Noon of the Nov. 16th will be the time and day of the Circle of Silence for the Healing of the Mother Earth and bringing Peace to all peoples and places. For those who cannot come to the Gathering proper we request that folks around the world do their own Silence/Silence Circles and meditating for that. Either at the same time as at the Gathering here (12 noon U.S. Rocky Mountain Time) or perhaps at High Noon in each place that people are doing it so that it would work as a Rolling Circle of Silence that goes around the world all day long as it happens in each different time zone. 3: The Sacred Tipi Tour has the Gathering down on their Calendar of Events and they will be at the Gathering from the 1st-30th . They will be having Ceremonies and workshops/teaching circles during that time, but we have not gotten their intended schedule of events as yet: http://www.soulconnection.net/downloads/tipi.pdf 4: There is a tree planting project that will be transporting trees from a heritage seed stock farm project in La Ribera to the site of where we held the last Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes, and which is still one of the proposed sites for this Gathering. Contact Rahmon at rahmoniturbe@hotmail.com for information and any offers to volunteer. 5: Of course U.S. citizens, and those who would choose to join them, celebrate Thanksgiving and one would assume that for those from there, but able to be down here, there will be an event for that. 6: All of the usual projects at Gatherings: CALM, Shanti Sena, etc. always happen at Gatherings and volunteers need to come together for those standard needs of the Gathering. Any Kitchen Bus(s) out there planning on coming down should let us know and we can include those in updates as they evolve. Should add that once you’re south of the U.S. border that gas prices goes back down (around $2.75 a gallon here right now), as do most things here in Mexico, though there is less and less of a difference as time goes by. Actually imported stuff is usually a bit more (but sometimes cheaper, which I can’t figure what with the added cost of transport, etc.) so bring those things with you that are from home if you want to make sure you have them. Or you are willing to pay a bit more for here and take the chance of availability. La Paz will be the base area for obtaining supplies. There is almost anything you would want here and some stores will special order any request that you have, of course giving them a lead-time for stocking your requested item(s). For a good general overview of La Paz and the County (Municipio) folks can go to the official County website: www.vivalapaz.com and familiarize yourselves with a bit of the area and what is available. It’s a bit commercial of a website since it was designed for attracting tourists and such, but it is informative on many levels and has some great photos. The Howdy Folks (Invitation) is now out around the world and of course many of those receiving that do decide to forward, post and publish information on the Gathering and they are doing their thing. Literally thousands of environmental and peace groups/networks worldwide have been invited already and more will be as things progress. It will also soon be published throughout many alternative media sources on-line as well, of course inviting everybody to share it as they will. So a lot has already been accomplished in the past few weeks since the initial Howdy Folks (Invitation) went out and we have been getting many responses from folks who are planning on coming from the 4 directions. Happy Rainbow Trails and each recipient of this is more than welcomed to further the Howdy Folks and updates throughout your networks. Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes Focalizer Rainbow Hawk rainbow_gathering@yahoo.com Update # 2 for the: Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes November 1st-30th 2008 Things continue to progress and a simple search of Google or Yahoo for: Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes will show that this Gathering is now a worldwide happening in the making, with over 60% of the first ten pages of the search being posted by a myriad of groups/networks/alternative media with the Invitation. Of course there are also many listings on the pages following the first ten (hundreds of them). We have pretty much covered the initial English and Spanish postings throughout this hemisphere and some beyond that. Of course much more work needs doing for those regions and too announce the Gathering to the rest of the world, i.e. translations, etc. Besides what we are doing from here, we know that many people/groups/networks/alternative media, and what have you, are further forwarding/posting/publishing the Howdy Folks/Invitation on to wherever they think it should go. Hopefully that is also true for all folks receiving this and all updates, as well as the Invitation itself. Continually more folks and groups are confirming their intended attendance and that they are networking in their friends, families and associated groups. At this point we can safely assume that well over a million people have had the opportunity to read the Howdy Folks/Invitation and to pass it along if they so choose to do so. This has all happened within this past few weeks and we still have 5 months& to continue spreading the word. By then we hope to have reached at least a sizable portion of the worlds populous. Please note that throughout the Invitation folks are directed to www.welcomehere.org and other Rainbow oriented web accesses for information so that everybody knows as much as they can about what Gatherings are and have been, as well as how they work (or more properly, how we work together to make them happen). Of course folks who have been to Gatherings before already have that knowledge to one degree or another, but this Gathering is inviting a myriad of active groups and networks which are contributing towards the Healing of the Mother Earth (via countless alternative efforts and projects) and fostering World Peace, many who have never attended a Gathering before and some who have had no knowledge of them at all until now. Although this effort of course provides a big focus on more traditional Rainbow networks, it goes far beyond those to include all Tribes and Cultures worldwide. It is thus the intent of the Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes to bring together as many folks as possible from across the entire spectrum planet wide. It also requests that all who are actively involved in real and tangible efforts bring those to share in workshops, Councils and events at this Gathering. It has been suggested that we might also include organizing an Alternative Festival/Fair of sorts in the city of La Paz in conjunction with the Gathering proper, though that would include sales of products produced by the people themselves, i.e. Art, Crafts, Film, Music, Dance, Theater, Workshops & Teach-ins, Alternative Energy, Organic Gardening/Farming, Holistic Medicine, Alternative Media and a myriad of subjects which make up the whole of the Alternative Movements worldwide. Since that would be set up as a separate entity from the Gathering proper (not to mention being miles away and in town) it would not infringe upon the non-commercial nature of all Rainbow efforts, but rather enhance the month long event as it would allow folks to generate some funds outside of the Gathering proper to help offset their expenses to get to/from, and to create, the Gathering itself. Sort of like in the old days when Gatherings happened at the same time and in the same area as Grateful Dead and other shows which many Rainbow folks attended while they were in the region and which never infringed upon the Gathering itself. Rather enhancing folks experiences during that time period. With the Second Global being a month in duration such an event happening in the same time frame would provide time away from the event proper and in such time folks would get to know far more about the local culture and get to know and encourage local folks to come out to the Gathering itself and experience the Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes as well. The two events would essentially be matched, reflecting the world as we would love to see it at the Gathering, yet working in the real world outside of the Gathering, a sharing of the Rainbow Energy, with folks who would not otherwise attend a Gathering due to their personal views and moral concepts (largely involving nudity which is common at clothing optional events). Feedback on this proposed idea is more than welcomed, however such feedback should relate to creating the event in conjunction with the Gathering time period. It would not be a “Rainbow Gathering” per se and thus any consensus’ regarding Gatherings would not necessarily apply (though a lot of the concepts are indeed mutually compatible) Focalizer for the Second Global Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes: Rainbow Hawk rainbow_gathering@yahoo.com