Tribal Celebration

In 1995 I, my roommate Jack, and my future wife Nita, decided to dress up in mock-tribal dress and camp out for the summer solstice weekend in a meadow on the property where I lived at the time in the mountains of central Arizona. This weekend became the first Tribal Celebration. We had a bonfire, drank Southern Comfort, and made music until late into the night. The next year we invited more friends and the attendance quadrupled to 12 people. It turned into an annual tradition that lasted until 2004. Attendance was by invitation only so the event stayed pretty small, which was just the way we wanted it. The most people we had was about 30. We stopped after that for various reasons.

This past weekend we revived the Tribal Celebration. It was our 10th wedding anniversary (we got married at the Tribal Celebration in 1998). We though it would be a good idea to get everyone together again to celebrate the solstice. It was lots of fun. We had many people who used to attend the earlier ones and several people that we had met between the last one in 2004 and this one. We enjoyed it immensely. The theme was the same as always - make up your own idea of tribal dress, have a fire, make music, and commune with nature. Below, Lynn, Pete, and Sharon sport their tropical paradise outfits along with drinks with umbrellas.

The kids made sculptures out of downed branches and we burned them on Saturday night. We decorated an old door, drank a bit, drummed a lot, ate good food, and laughed all the time. What a great group of people! We feel honored to be a part of it all.

We have become a tribe of sorts over the years and it is growing. I suppose there are 50 to 70 people who might consider themselves part of this tribe. Membership in it is by invitation and by choice. The love and sense of community grows every year.

The world today is very different than the one of a hundred years ago, especially to those who live in a technological society like ours. We can meet people that share our ideas and goals either online or by chance meeting at events and then create modern tribes. We are no longer trapped by geography. We can go anywhere. We can communicate electronically. I think it's great.

What's your tribe?