Rainbow Gatherings

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Rainbow Gatherings as an ad-hoc low-tech community model.

When the earth is ravaged and the animals are dying, a new tribe of people shall come unto the earth from many colors, classes, creeds, and who by their actions and deeds shall make the earth green again. They will be known as the warriors of the Rainbow.

-- Old Native American Prophecy

Rainbow Gatherings have been taking place for 26 years, and for 1999 it's in Pennsylvania. Here is a cooperative community of tens of thousands living together for a week in a National Forest with low-tech everything. Money, alcohol, and electricity is taboo. Vehicles and commercialism are left at the outlying parking areas, and everyone packs their tents and supplies in. Some people show up months beforehand to make earth ovens and shelters, and some stay for months afterward to restore the land to its original condition.

Could this work as an ad hoc bugout plan (choosing a favorable climate and going for an indefinite time)? I think we will see a lot of this in 2000. Food and latrine management are the main concerns. The Forest Service is trying to outlaw it.

From: http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow.html

----begin quote----

What is the Rainbow Family ?

Some say we're the largest non-organization of non-members in the world. We have no leaders, and no organization. To be honest, the Rainbow Family means different things to different people. I think it's safe to say we're into intentional community building, non-violence, and alternative lifestyles. We also believe that Peace and Love are a great thing, and there isn't enough of that in this world. Many of our traditions are based on Native American traditions, and we have a strong orientation to take care of the the Earth. We gather in the National Forests yearly to pray for peace on this planet.

For another viewpoint, Try Carla's much better explanation.

...

The gatherings are free and non-commercial, and everyone is welcome. Each person is asked to bring their own camping equipment (this all takes place in remote areas of the National Forest), their own cup, bowl, and spoon, and whatever they might want to share to help the gathering happen (tarps, shovels, musical instruments, bulk food, etc.). No one will be turned away because of lacks in these areas, however. The Magic Hat is passed at mealtimes and around camp. Donations are used to buy food in bulk for the kitchens and whatever else may be necessary for the communal well-being (plywood covers and lime for the latrines, first aid supplies, etc.).

Besides the work that goes on to help the gathering happen, there's also lots of accoustical music, drumming, dancing, workshops, herb-walks, council circles, sister circles, brother circles, brother-sister circles, people hanging out, people bartering, people enjoying nature, people meditating, chanting, and praying, people talking politics, people talking spiritual and personal growth, people visioning the future, people doing bodywork and other healing work, ...

The list could go on forever.

For me personally, the Rainbow Family is where I have found my greatest opportunities to learn, to grow, to celebrate, to be one with my fellow beings and my mother Earth, to serve, to pray, to play. The gatherings for me are living theater, evolution in process, creativity manifest. I am passionately in love.

Picture twenty thousand people in a sunlit meadow, standing silent in prayer, holding hands in one huge, unbroken circle. Picture a parade of children approaching, singing songs, their countenances bright with enthusiasm and face paint, baloons and banners waving in the breeze. Picture the breaking of the silence with a cheer from the circle, then the silence returning once again, to grow slowly into a thrum of voices united in a single OM reverberating through the valley and on to the hills beyond. Hold the OM in your mind. Let it spread through and around and in you. Feel it pass from hand to hand and heart to heart.

The magic, the connection you feel is the essence of the Rainbow Family of Living Light.

----end quote----



-- Jon (jonmiles@pacbell.net), December 16, 1998

Answers

I can hardly wait for Diane's commentary on this one!!!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), December 16, 1998.

Inspirational, but no cigar so far as solutions go. If the food chain goes off line, acorns and squirrels won't suffice for the multitudes out in the woods.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), December 16, 1998.

Wow! Where to begin with this lunacy? No alcohol!!! Are these people nuts? Who would want to be part of a 10,000 person camping trip, full of new-agers, herbalists, "mother-earth"-ers (LOL), hippies, etc. & participate in an orgy, or an OM chanting? For what? Talk about people not having any purpose! Frankly, this "vision" scared the hell out of me...but then again, I'm not into large groups. I prefer the way of the yogi, or zen monk. Guess I'm a hermit in heart & soul, a lone philosopher. By the way, where do you find 10,000 people for something like this? I don't know anyone that would do it.

-- Randy (flembob@usa.net), December 16, 1998.

Gee, I don't know.....Where did they find all those people for Woodstock? To each his own. Solitude could be considered lunacy too.

-- Anti-Chainsaw (Tree@hugger.com), December 16, 1998.

Well, Jack,

I'll simply take some time, a little later, to investigate the preparedness and group survival lessions learned by this organization, then see what can be applied to creating community within Silicon Valley. If the electricity is off for any extended period, which looks quite likely, I suspect group camping skills will become quite useful. How many million people are in the Bay Area? Humm. Big campout.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 16, 1998.



I went to two Rainbow Gatherings in the late 80s and enjoyed the experience. Unfortunately, at the one in North Carolina one of the kitchens was built below the plumbing hoses, and many people got shigellosis. It sometimes didn't show up until the people were on their way home, and the state of Tennessee had to send medical help to the site. They ended up calling that strain of the disease Rainbow Shigella. Moral: Don't shit where you eat.

-- Pearlie Sweetcake (storestuff@home.now), December 16, 1998.

I was at the 86 and 87 gatherings. There was no need for much administrative infrastructure in creating and carrying out this type of event. There is no electricity used, neither grid nor battery. Water pipes and sewage systems are set up and later completely removed. It is an example of a low-tech community organization that can be set up in a wilderness location, does not depend on the infrastructure and has been proven to work, 26 times so far. There are some people who get sick each time, also babies born, and maybe even dying during the week. Accidents are rare. Nobody ever goes hungry because an abundance of food is contributed to a common supply and a person can get free food (it's all vegetarian and mostly organic) everywhere all day and night, 24x7.

The gathering event is organized on a strictly local common-sense basis without any centralized authoritarian management/government body. The community experience is carried out very smoothly and peacably with many different neighborhoods of campers around several square miles, each grouped according to some affinity or by chance. People can walk around from area to area and feel welcome at any of the other camps for food or just to talk, etc. In this community arrangement there is near-zero discord, theft, or fighting among the 10 to 20 thousand participants. It's also very efficient to pool resources (consumables, durable goods, money to get them with, and most of all labor) and divide the workload into specialized roles.

Leaving out electricity cuts away the mass-media tv/radio/print programming influences as well as the phone/fax/modem datastream of concerns from one's consciousness. Gone too is the consumerist buying/selling metaphor/lifestyle. The engine that drives the pursuit of advertised lifestyle values is in idle and can be turned off for a week since the media-free and money-free environment does not support it.

Disallowing alcohol use is a key provision in maintaining peacefulness in such a big group, but there is an A-camp near the fringes by the parking lot, and one may drink there or even stay there the whole time. Note, how to phase out the desire for beer: drink sparkling water, makes a good placebo and you won't get tired.

And as a weapon-free environment it is very safe. Everyone helps each other.

Everyone gathering most certainly do have a purpose. To quote Carla, "join with us in gathering together for the purpose of expressing our sincere desire that there shall be peace on earth, harmony among all people."

This seems like a sustainable model for a self-sufficient post-y2k neighborhood that doesn't want to depend on the energy/information infrastructure. The food and energy for this community is acquired by voluntary donations (mostly food, gas, and cash) contributed by the participant. If there is a nationwide gas and grocery shortage problem, this type of conclave can lead to a way out by adding farming to the ongoing activities available for participation. The overall operation is so efficient that most people can just sit around and talk and visit, as if on vacation (which they are). There is plenty of time for scheduling in a few constructive tasks, like any camping operation. To make it operate in continuous self- sufficient mode, it needs only an agricultural operation with time, space, and energy to run it. Optionally a computer room (tent, tipi, ...?) can be set up so certain computer-skilled people can earn money on notebooks with cell-phones and satellite dishes. This could also be the newsfeeding area if people want contact with the rest of the world. More buildings can be put up with some barn-raising. There have been many attempts at utopian and/or self-reliant communites in American history. Maybe internet will let it happen.

Does this sound too good to be accurate? To get a better picture of this type of living, go to Pennsylvania the first week of July next year and experience it for your self.

Corrected link to
Carla's Explanation of What is the Rainbow Family
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/info/carla-whatis.html

General Info on the Rainbow Family of Living Light
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/info/info.html

Carla's Gathering Basics
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/info/carla.html

Why gather?
http://www.welcomehome.org/rainbow/info/why_gather.html

reprinted from All Ways Free, Winter '88

--------begin quote--------

When Melville wrote in the 19th century, "Why weary the arm at the iron and the oar," he meant Why work one's life away in the industrial age factories and maritime trades?

I mean: Why should anyone trudge thru the woods, shovel in hand digging compost pits, or stand long hours in dark miserable weather, flashlight in hand directing cars toward parking places, or lug food in boxes and heavy sacks over mountainous terrain, or scrub large pots? I mean Why would anyone want to do this? And for no monetary profit?

I mean Why should anyone want to go thru the 1001 tasks that are the life support system of the Rainbow Gatherings? Hauling large rocks for bakery ovens, digging & filling latrines, tending medical emergencies, installing water pipe systems that need to be taken apart just three weeks later, sorting garbage, not to mention doing all this wit the added difficulty of our own problems: upset or belligerent people, alcoholics in rainbow clothing, rude or unhygienic behavior; and sometimes i with only minimal he or even opposition from the public service of the government.

...

--------end partial quote--------



-- Jon (jonmiles@pacbell.net), December 16, 1998.

Could somebody shed some light on just WHERE in Pennsylvania this year's "delightful, dis-harmonic, non-convergence" is going to take place? Heaven knows that with my luck I'll have this event right next door to our place. Probably upstream, on MY trout stream!

Check six! WW

-- wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), December 16, 1998.


picture an attempt to improvise something like this in midwinter.

picture the local community not being receptive to 20000 additional mouths to feed.

picture running into various biker gangs and neonazi groups who are already working at staking out parts of various national forests and parks...

picture a whole *lot* of folks dying due to lack of common sense...no, wait, that's y2k anyway...sorry, scratch that last one...

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), December 16, 1998.


Rumour has it that the internationale branch of the rainbow mob will be hoeing down at Ayers Rock for new years evil. Can anyone confirm or deny? Is this maybe a different bunch of 'ippies with a similar name? Vegetable rights and peace!! Boom Shanka!

-- humptydumpty (no.6@thevillage.com), December 17, 1998.


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