rainbow gathering

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Originally uploaded by loupiote.

When I worked at Universal, I had the pleasure of working with a delightful young man named Travis. Once, Travis told me of a magical experience he had with a group called the Rainbow Gathering. He described it as a group of people "out in the woods" singing, playing music, dancing to tribal drums, eating, and becoming one with the universe, or something. He spent the night there at the Rainbow Gathering. Then, he hitched a ride with total strangers in a Volkswagen up to Idaho, (wish I could make this stuff up) to another Rainbow Gathering. He stayed, partied (or something), and stayed with some random person on their farm. He had to hitch a ride to a local town, and ended up hitching a ride back home, like 8 hours away.

I did some research on the Rainbow Gathering, and found that they're quite active. I can't believe I was blissfully unaware that this group existed. It seems like a story you would see on Nightline, or 20/20.

It's oddly inspiring to me that there are people in this country who don't have jobs because they travel around in the woods with groups of hippies. Sure, you can call them names if you want. "Hippie", "bum", "druggie" come to mind. Sure, these names are all completely acurate. But, it's still inspiring. I guess the hippie ways of existence are deeply romanticized, and reminiscent of a time that existed before I was born. These hippie images seem surreal, and I can't believe hippies really existed in the 60's and 70's. Woodstock has been promoted, at least in my mind, to mythical status. So, to see that people still believe in that hippie dream is inspiring. (However, the cold hard truth is that they probably just want to do drugs in the woods.) But, the idea is romantic. I mean, the hippie part, not the drugs.

Here is a fairly thorough site on the Rainbow Gathering.