A collective wave of sadness is felt across the Green festival community today with the news that this year’s Big Green Gathering, due to take place at a farm near Cheddar, Somerset next week has been cancelled. I’ve spent a sizeable chunk of this afternoon on Facebook as well as attending to texts and phone calls from stunned, incredulous friends and colleagues, all of whom were planning to have a really good time and create a beautiful festival for ourselves and the general public when the gates would have opened on Wednesday.
Most of us were loading our vehicles today with the intention of heading onto the site tomorrow. Indeed the infrastructure of the site; plumbing, loos, crew catering offices etc is already established. There have been strict instructions issued not to approach the site, that it is closed.
The reason for the closure is related to legal issues which are being thoroughly aired on local news sites. What is emerging for me on a personal level is the deep sense of connectedness that persists in the festival community as we mourn our loss. Many will have been preparing for months; purchasing stock, creating decorations, generally getting excited and enthusiastic.
I have attended the Big Green on the last four occasions, as a therapist in the Healing area. This year I was planning to join in with the rambunctious fun and diversity of the Earth Energies and Divinatory Arts Field, I had been looking forward to teaching morning yoga and giving crew massages. Elsewhere, friends would be creating arts spaces, a bhakti yoga space, a garden of found objects; offering sound healings, fairy craft workshops, sacred plant medicine healings and so much more.
The diversity and vitality of the Big Green bears testament to the breadth and scope of the current green scene in the UK. With many of the issues pioneered now embraced by main stream society, such as green energy, sustainable homes, organic gardening, the need for a forum, a showcase for alternative lifestyles is highly pertinent.
I will miss the horse drawn camp for its unique flavour and timelessness, the late night sweat lodge in the tipi field, hanging out with friends in SAMS sauna, the unexpected moments of beauty and bliss that fuel my festival adventures. The Big Green Gathering is (was?) a brave and important event, unique in its authenticity and unrivalled in its outlook. Sending thoughts of peace and love to all involved.
www.big-green-gathering.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/somerset/8169477.stm
thank you for such a beautiful blog post, which well sums up the festival and the wonderful atmosphere created there...
ReplyDeletelet's hope that we can all come together and find a way for the festival to go forward next year - it would be a massive loss if this was the end of it.
hannah x
Thanks Hannah, yes indeed I strongly wish that I have not written a eulogy! The spirit of the event is indomitable and this is our strength.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the comments of the post but we should remain fully aware that if we let the police squash this event with the frivolous grounds they are using, while we don't even show the strength or the wit to counter with some kind of solid, united and peaceful protest, we can rest assured that, one by one, we will lose all our liberties, not just our festivals. Be in no doubt whatsoever! There WILL be a protest up in the mendid hills, and a festival, for those brave enough to go. See you there!
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