Resources

Herbal Gatherings

Friends of the Trees

PO Box 253, Twisp, WA 98856, 509/997-9200
www.friendsofthetrees.net/news.htm#gather

Michael Pilarski founded and helped produce numerous herbal gatherings and barter faires in the Pacific Northwest. He has assembled an invaluable list of herbal gatherings happening around the West.

Holidays, Festivals, and Celebrations of the World Dictionary

Helene Henderson and
Sue Ellen Thompson, eds.
2002 (3rd ed.); 1,000 pp. $98
Omnigraphics

Since primitive times, festivals have celebrated the religious mysteries of existence--the enigma of birth, death, and rebirth. They fill a deep-seated need to participate viscerally in the promise of spring, the joy of summer, the harvest and the decline of the year through fall to the rigors of winter, and the promise of a new spring. They acknowledge, honor, and propitiate the divinity at the depths of these mysteries.

The Dictionary describes more than 2,500 popular, secular, and religious events in 100 nations around the globe. Entries contain contacts, historical and printed sources, and the origin and background of the holiday and its observance. This unparalleled compendium would be useful to any school, library, or person interested in learning more about festive events.

"Itul

Early December

This highly regarded ritual is a ceremonial dance performed by the Kuba people who live in the Congo. It takes place on an infrequent basis. The Itul is considered so important that once the word spreads that the ceremony is taking place, Kuba people from all over rush to attend it. It is revived from time to time by kings who fear that their traditional power is being threatened by modern secular life.

"World Eskimo-Indian Olympics

Mid-July

A gathering in Fairbanks, Alaska of native people from throughout the state and Canada to participate in games of strength and endurance. Events include the popular blanket toss, which originated in whaling communities as a method of tossing a hunter high enough to sight far-off whales. The tossees are sometimes tossed as high as 28 feet in the air.

Great Festivals of the World

Stories from the Greatest Celebrations on the Planet

Ian Jackson, ed.
2001; 190 pp. $18.95
Pilot Productions

These fifteen essays take readers to Brazil's Rio Carnival, Malaysia Thaipusam in Kuala Lumpar, Italy's Venice Carnival and the Palio horse race in Sienna, Ethiopia's Timkat Festival, and Mali's Takubelt Tuareg Festival.

For the global trekker wanting to experience these great festivals firsthand, I know of no better guide. Along with each essay are useful tips, facts, and current references enabling travelers to survive and thrive in hectic, fest-filled environs.

"A Great Festival is one that stands out from the rest. It might be because it is the biggest. The maddest. The most unexpected. The most bizarre. The most unique. A Great Festival is really one that you should take part in before you die.

"The Takubelt Tuareg Festival is a celebration of the traditional desert culture of the impoverished, embattled Tuareg clans of Mall. For the foreign visitor, the festival is a music-led event which gives an insight into desert lifestyle, crafts, and camel culture. For the locals, it is about these things too, but also has useful social and political undertones. It's an opportunity for them to maintain cultural links with the other Tuareg populations in Niger, Algeria, Libya and Mauritania.

David Kupfer is a regular contributor to Whole Earth. His most recent article, on "Ecofolk" music, appeared in the Spring 2002 issue.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Point Foundation
COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group