>i'd like to go to a gathering. i've never been to a rainbow gathering
>but i have camped with many rainbow people i've run across while on the
>road. do you know of any coming up in the next several months in the
>michigan/midwest area?
<pfraterdeus@igc.org> is our cyberspace focalizer and happens to live in the
midwest; and yes, there is one coming soon to your area.
In both North America and Europe there are huge annual continental gatherings
lasting for months around the summer solstice. Around the winter solstice and
the equinoxes there are numerous bioregional gatherings. And around the full
moons there are innumerable local ones. We are also gathering in Central and
South America, Australia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, Central Asia, Siberia,
the Middle East, North Africa, and elsewhere. Strung like trade beads on a
necklace for Mother Earth, these encampments form a continuous Rainbow
Trail... with no beginning and never ending....
>Your post to the technomads list caught my interest. Most of my
>contact with rainbows was at the redwood summer base camps. I was
>impressed with their attitudes of openness and sharing. Also, through
>a previous interest in primitive technologies, I've recently become
>intrigued with the idea of tipi living. So... I'd like to see your
>color photos and learn more about this lifestyle. Let me know your
>address and I will send a SASE. Thanks!
M.L. Endicott, P.O.Box 2589, Cullowhee, NC 28723-2589 USA
>Please tell me more! What do you do for medical emergencies? What forms of
>transportation do you use? Where does your food come from? I would
>appreciate more information about this (sort of) organization/community.
First of all, Rainbow is a dis-organization of non-members, which is most
often referred to as a family, tribe, or nation. Rainbow gatherings have been
called "something between summer camp and a state of emergency." The whole
premise of the gatherings is the healing of the Earth, which begins with one's
self. We have many doctors, nurses, EMTs, and alternative health care
practitioners, such as midwives, homeopaths, chiropractors, etc. There is
also a fulltime mobile MASH unit called the Center for Alternative Living
Medicine, or CALM for short. Typically, one half of each individual's food
needs are met by the group. Of that amount, one third comes from direct bulk
contributions made by individuals (organic farmers, health food distributors,
religious groups, etc.), one third comes from collective purchases made with
pooled funds from passing what is called the Magic Hat, and one third comes
from recycling widely available discarded surplus food called dumpster diving
or dumpstering. This is commonly referred to as the loaves and fishes method.