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Published: November 5th 2006
Boobacita making bread
Boobacita jumped right into the Rainbow Spirit! See her making bread at Lovin' Ovens??OK! I’m back with the (hopefully) last rainbow installment! It sure is motivating to write these when people kept beggin for it! Specially Daisy cuz she’s so uber cute and I know she is for REAL comin to Rainbow next year!
Oh, and to all of you who say you want to…DO IT! Why not just do it?? I’ll keep you all updated as to where it is, but it is the SAME time every year, July 4th. Plan a few days to travel, and however many days you want to spend in the woods. It’s free!! Getting there may cost you money if you drive…unless of course you run on Veggie (OOOHHH SNAP!). But its an amazing experience and it is completely possible for you to do. Everyone is welcome and wanted…so do it! We can have a 360 camp! Hehehe, that would be bad ass. Plus…you can wish me a happy bday on the 2nd, now if THAT doesn’t sell you on it…pshhh…I don’t know WHAT will! Hehe!
So here we go-
Rainbow Part 4- the final entry
I left off with Michelle, Boobacita, and I setting up
Lovin' Ovens' Oven!
One of the bigger Kitchens of Rainbow! I love how they made their ovens! their camp near Chris and my's tent at Shitty Bridge Creek. Then came time for exploring this new place with my blogwife! Luckily Boobacita fit in and loved Rainbow from the start, so Michelle and I had time to catch up, squeal in excitement of meeting each other finally, share travel stories, and tour Rainbow. It was a totally thrill, and it didn't take long before we were Dani and Missy, the cosmic twins as familiar as if we were sitting in front of our computer screens into the late hours of the night.
I was so excited to show her around Rainbow and introduce her to my friends. We pretty much just walked the trails, went from one camp to the next talking for the rest of the night.
From that point on, every day was just hanging out, exploring with Michelle, eating, and having a blissful time! A typical day may have went like this- Wake up slowly to the tent becoming lit or to a guitar and someone singing a good morning song. Wander around your camp getting off the layers of clothes you piled on to protect you from the Colorado mountain chill. Gather
Chris and Me Chatting
So many places to hang and chat! your gear- cup/bowl, utensils, camera, shiny rocks and head out to find a kitchen with breakfast ready. Hang out in a field, check out a seminar on yoga or religion or something, check out trade circle, volunteer for something, build rock sculptures, or nap. Eat when hungry. At dinner-ish time Main Circle would gather, where everyone (who wanted to) would come to the Main Meadow to celebrate and share dinner. Afterward go back to camp, get your cold weather gear because sun was going to set soon! Then choose from any number of night time activities- drum circles, fire chats, group games, sermons, sleep, mud wrestle at Nick-at-Night and so on. Eventually you fire-hop through the darkness, past shadows of others doing the same, past crowds of pulsing Rainbows caught in the trance of one of the many drum circles, and find your tent. There you crawl into your sleeping bag, hopefully with some warm flesh next to you, and slip away into sleep to the sound of drums echoing off the mountains.
Instead of recounting every day, which i cant remember the difference between one day and the next, now that I wasn't waiting for Shel to arrive,
Me building a rock sculpture
Me trying my hand at rock sculptures! I'll just talk about some of the elements of Rainbow that I mentioned above!
Trade Circle. At Rainbow money is discouraged and the bartering system is preferred. There are any number of wares or tools that you may want or need while in the woods and completely shut off from the outside world, and THIS is where you get it! Trade Circle is basically a market place at Rainbow. Tons of people sit on the ground, spread out a blanket, and display their products (from lighters to pipes, chocolate to puppies, knives to peacock feathers). Then you just walk up to one of them, and offer a trade for something you have. I didn't spend too much time in Trade Circle, since I didn't want anything, and didn't really have anything to trade. But i did trade a Namaste for a Peacock feather that I gave to Shel.
Drum Circles. There is always music being played at Rainbow. Sometimes it will be a simple acoustic guitar or djembe drum, and other times you wonder how they hauled that thing in (Some guy had a big Upright Bass!). But definitely a HUGE part of Rainbow culture is the drum
My rock sculpture
Oh yes, that was fun! But not nearly as pretty as some of the others there!
circle. Basically just a bunch of people bring their Djembe drums to a fire and beat away for hours at a time. They get very intense at night, and it makes my heart beat quicker and i smile at the feeling of walking through the dark woods with drums all around me.
Main Circle. A large part of the culture of Rainbow is community and sharing. Main Circle is the opportunity for the entire Rainbow family to come together. At an hour or so before sunset, people will gather in the main meadow (which is just the biggest meadow/field around). First comes the counsel, where issues of the day is brought up, discussed and thing can be voted on (which is a consensus system- everyone has to agree). Then everyone holds hands in a HUGE circle and pray or be silent, before the whole circle resounds with a few minutes of OMing. Followed by everyone throwing their hands in the air with a celebratory howl, yipps, and shouts- its a rush! Next everyone sits down forming two circles, one inside the other (or more depending on the number of people...when i first got there it was two circles, when
Rock Sculptures by the water
Very beautiful! There were tons of these all over the place
i left there was about 8). All the different kitchens of Rainbow will bring down a huge bowl or cooler full of their Shloooop. The children (and their parents) eat the cleanest and first food, and the rest is scooped into everyone's bowls by volunteers from the kitchens as they walk through the circles. After people are done eating they may hang around the meadow to clean, play frizbee, dance, or partake in group game things.
The Angel Walk. One of the group activities there was the Angel Walk. Basically anyone who wants to participate make two lines facing each other. Who's ever turn it is closes their eyes, is cleansed with sage incense, and then walks slowly through the center of the two lines. The people on the sides guide the walker, putting bucket full of positive energy on the walker- complimenting them, massaging them, giving them blessings, hugging them, etc. Its EXTREMELY intense! I cried (was a good cry!). Hahah!
The Kitchens. It's hard to understand what exactly is meant by kitchens, when you think of being in the woods with no electricity, running water, or refrigeration. But very simply the kitchens are areas with a
Boobacita and me!
Awwww mamacita and I cuddling in the bus! fire pit dug, grates put over them, a washing section (wash, rinse, bleach), pots and pans brought in by the organizers of that particular kitchen, and tons of food donated by people- usually rice, TVP, oatmeal, pastas, etc. There are very strict methods of cooking and serving the food to keep germ spreading to a minimum. Everyone is welcome to eat at any kitchen, and all are encouraged to volunteer at one (collecting firewood, washing pots and pans, cutting food, serving, cooking, etc). It's one of the more impressive things at Rainbow I think, as you get to see how charity and cooperation come together so effectively! There are lots of different kitchens, who may even have specialties, like Lovin Ovens has a lot of breads and pizzas, Krishna Kitchens have vegan/vegetarian foods, Fat Kids Kitchen has yummy things like pizza, chocolate, cookies, etc.
Now to finish out with a few more events that are notable about being at Rainbow!
MY BIRTHDAY! YAAAY! Yup! My birthday is on July 2nd, which is dead center of prime Rainbow time. People are really starting to show up by this time, so the energy of the place starts to really pick
Huggy time!
Chris and I getting our hug on! Look at his cutie pig tails, hehe up. This year I turned 22 years old (...stop laughing). This particular July 2nd was a rather chilly one! But i was determined to be decorated for it! As we woke up and got moving, Chris and Michelle drew Alllll over me! Chris and I had brought a bunch of colored sharpie markers and they came in good use! I strolled around Rainbow in my baggie ass camies and bikini top with “It's my Birthday” written all over me (in Spanish on my back thanks to Shel), as well as...requests to be spun. Hehe!
It was really a very relaxed day (not that all of them weren't!). I got a bunch of goodies from Michelle, including a cutie scarf that SHE was given randomly by a woman hiking in (i think it was because she just gave her a smile and a “Welcome Home!”). People hugged me, wished me birthdays, and I even got a kiss on the cheek and a very sticky nugget that was shared with the boys. I did get spun, in more than one way! Totally a good time!
During the same day I made “My Statement”. I was particularly hung up on the
Shel and Pavel Chatting
It's great when people of your different worlds meet!! concept that people are generally good and caring, and that concept was negated. So in order to prove it, I laid myself out on the ground, in the middle of a main trail path that had tons of people walking on it. As they, one by one, stepped around me i thanked them for “putting up with my statement that people are generally good and will go out of their way not to harm.” It got the attention of a photojournalist that was walking by and he took a picture. I don't know who he worked with, but he sat and talked a bit. I also was given a world peace thingy with a bunch of flags on it, which I tied to my head..then gave to the negator of the people-are-good concept. Hehehe! But she did bring up a really good point that the people who come to Rainbow are already of that mindset, so its not a very Random sampling of the population of the world on a whole. And she is totally right!
Two days later is the fourth of July. This is the main day of Rainbow. The peak of the population at Rainbow is
Silly at Main Circle
Meeee being silly... on this day, and it was estimated that there was at least 11,000 people there on the fourth. But I'm pretty sure it was more than that...its near impossible to estimate such a thing! The fourth is the day that everyone comes together to pray for world peace and liberation from the evils of society type thing.
From sunrise until Main Circle at noon, everyone remains silent (well, as much as they can). It can be quite a powerful thing to walk around a place with THOUSANDS of people, most of which are trying to remain silent, and still convey the intensity and love that exists at Rainbow. Welcome Homes turn to huge smiles and hugs, hello's turn to peace signs and head nods, Thank yous turn to bows and hugs.
Everyone gathers in the main meadow and sits quietly for things to begin. There were people standing in prayer with their hands to the heavens, others practicing Poi, many meditated or napped, someone was blowing bubbles, and another was passing out sunblock.
Eventually some of the elders get up and signal to people to form the circle, and the whole crowd gets up and starts walking
Little one spinnin Poi!
I loved the kid presence there. Especially ones like this, who have got the mad skills towards the perimeter of the meadow. It took quite a while to spread everyone out, as the ENTIRE meadow was encircled with people- ONE huge circle with thousands of people holding hands.
Once everyone was in place the silence was broken with 11,000 voices joined in an OM. The meadow buzzed with the sound. Then suddenly we all burst into howling, screaming, hooting, and cheering with our hands to the sky! People started wave after wave that circled the meadow and celebration begun. A majority of people broke off to do their own thing and get warm, but a lot of other people began the day long celebration at the center of the meadow. Here they played drums, danced, and basically was a mesh of flesh and music all day and into the night.
Shel and I didn't really participate in the dancing and such, we did more of our hanging out and exploring. We also prepared for leaving the next morning as her, Boobacita, and I would be driving to Utah to meet up with Lionel, Catina and Chris, beginning the next portion of the Awesomest Summer Vacation EVA!
That night Shel and I really spent
Rayven!
Rayven at main circle look suspicious a lot of time hanging out and having a blast! We sat by the bus (since the tent was all packed up, we were going to sleep in the bus the last night before taking off early on the 5th. Sitting like two bumps on a log, we sat...on a log...for HOURS! We talked about, who knows what, sang to my iPod with one earplug in each of our ears, chatted with people walking by, and looked at the sky. It was extremely magical.
The next morning we woke up very early (how, I don't remember...not like there were alarms there), and I packed my bag for the next leg of the trip. By that time I had been in the woods for about ten days and Michelle 7. Our hair and bodies were covered in dirt, we hadn't changed clothes the entire time, and a warm shower and some pancakes was sounding BOMBIN'!
So I woke Shel, said bye to the sleepy Chris, and we two went to the entrance and waited for Boobacita to come pick us up (she spent the last night in a hotel).
Theeeeee End (of that adventure anyway!)
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