New Year's Eve
Festivites at Neahtawanta
By Gabe Eriksen
I am supposed to write a little something about the festivities at Neahtawanta on New Year's Eve. I am not much of a religious person, except for the fact that I believe in something bigger than myself, so it is difficult to write anything of palpable value. I fumble with words to describe a ritual of beauty and importance that took place in the yoga room of the Inn. I could describe word for word the actions of the participants of the ritual, but that just seems to trivialize the whole thing. So, instead of fighting with the perfect description of a spiritual experience I will say this… We came together for a time to express or own willingness to forgive each other and ourselves. Channeling all the good energies we could muster to help guide our thoughts and actions throughout the new year, we made wishes and expressed hopes for the future. We also paid respect to the seven chakras with cloth and thought, and then spiral danced ourselves to unite and solidify our promises to each other (we will make this planet a better place to live, through our actions). It was serious, solemn, peaceful, enlightening, and most of all fun!The ritual unwound into a dinner of nearly unimaginable proportions. Then the skits began! Bob Russell and I took on the roll of newscasters as we ushered in our own distopic and utopic looks at the future. Many of the guests (too numerous to enumerate here) helped with the skits, as actors or stage hands. Bob and I proposed what the future would look like if water were to become a privately traded commodity. We also saw what the future could be with skits about a Bikeway taking over Grandview Parkway. Erin, Sally Van Vleck, Joan, Sally Neal and others (a modified Hughthir White) depicted the opening of a sustainable herb extraction plant -- an alternative to the mega-conglomerate pharmaceutical companies. We also had commercials done by Reni to help the transitions from skit to skit.
The fun, the food, the skits and then one last coming together in the yoga room completed the first millennium celebration (there is always next year). We sat in a circle and mediated and "om-ed" for world peace and as the cheers rang out in New York City here we sang Imagine by John Lennon.
Ten years ago I thought that I would spend the celebration of the supposed millennium in Times Square. Five years ago I thought that it would be a bomb shelter with guns, ammunition, and Twinkies. Last year I knew it would be Neahtawanta. I am glad it was here.