moonalice, the opening ceremony & my time as a jellyfish

When I was in high school, I really started to feel the social isolation of living in a small town so I subscribed to Details magazine. It wasn't a great magazine by any stretch of the imagination but it did have interesting stuff about fashion and music that I appreciated. One day, my mom stated that she didn't care for the magazine as she thought it was influencing me too much. I quickly dismissed her concern but then I got the next issue and it talked about living in a hippie commune. I got momentarily excited which she instantly caught onto. 

I've always enjoyed the hippie culture. I don't subscribe to it completely because I like my modern day conveniences a little too much but I like the idea of it and the Oregon Country Fair definitely gives me more than a small taste of what it's like. Last night, I was wandering through the 8 (the main fair area) and came to the Main Stage where MoonAlice was playing.  After I went down to visit fair for the first time in 2008, Raven brought me home a poster from a band that I thought looked cool and I appreciated the gesture so I've hung onto it. I just happened to wander into that band's show tonight (and get their latest poster) so I stayed for the show. They were a jam band and I wasn't completely sober so I was digging it. At one point, I looked around me and realized that I loved the crowd as much as the band. Here I was, dancing to the music of a jam band after midnight in the middle of the woods in Oregon with a crowd full of hippies. It was awesome!

 

The next morning, I got up and into Community Village early so I could participate in the opening ceremonies. We were told weeks ago that we would gather at Community Village in the morning, do our normal opening which is beautiful and then head to Main Stage where an indigenous elder would perform the opening ceremonies. The ceremonies involved recognizing the four elements; earth, water, sky and fire. This year's would focus on water though. Still they encourage everyone from the village to wear colors for their chosen element. I had a neat green skirt that I like so I chose earth (although I'm an Aquarius).

First off, I just love the opening ceremonies for Community Village. They are so heart-warming. We typically sing this spiritual verse which goes like this:

I'm gonna let life move me.

I'm gonna let life stir me deep.

I'm gonna let life wake me

from the ancient sleep.

I'm gonna laugh all my laughter.

I'm gonna cry all my tears.

I'm gonna love the rain as deeply as

the sun when it clears.

The ceremonies at Main Stage were neat too but it felt more like a production for the public whereas our community village ceremony felt a lot more personal and beautiful.

Then, that night, I became a jellyfish. After the fire show in the parking lot (which I didn't attend this year for the first time), I went and helped the security crew get everyone back in. I enjoyed doing it last year and plan to keep it up every year I go. After we got everyone in, two of my camp-mates, Aaron and Robin handed me a jellyfish puppet to control. They made maybe seven or eight jellyfish. They consisted of slow-strobing lights in a balloon which was covered with a light fabric jellyfish costume. These jellyfish were attached to the end of a retractable 30 ft pole which you couldn't see at night. It was an awesome spectacle to see, especially when it was pitch dark. We went to Chela Mela, which is a meadow in the 8 where DJ's perform and people with glow-sticks gather. They loved the jellyfish. I was able to make it dance with the other jellyfish and also drop down into crowds of people. This enabled me to hear bizarre lines that I will never be told again like, "Dude, you dipped your jellyfish in my beer!" I love fair and this was definitely a day of highlights.