Rainbow Gathering

"Welcome home" and "I love you" are common greetings at the Rainbow Gathering.

Rainbow Gatherings are temporary intentional communities, held annually in various locations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Russia, and Europe. These gatherings seek to encourage the practice of ideals of peace, love, respect, harmony, freedom and community, and seek to serve as an alternative to consumerism, capitalism, and mass media. They are strongly associated with counterculture and the hippie subculture.

Environmental impact and crime are difficulties associated with Rainbow Gatherings, and has resulted in strained relations between Rainbow Gathering participants and local communities. Media coverage is often unfavorable, focusing on drug use, nudity, assaults, fugitives, serious traffic charges such as drunken driving and the countercultural aspects of the assemblage. Nevertheless, the Gatherings have proven a durable and international phenomenon for over 40 years.

Map of the camps, found at "Information and Rumor Control".

Background

Rainbow Gatherings and the Rainbow Family of Living Light (usually abbreviated to "Rainbow Family") claim to express utopian impulses, bohemianism, hipster and hippie culture. The gatherings have roots clearly traceable to the counterculture of the 1960s.

Rainbow Gatherings have their own jargon, which helps to create a sense of community and express their thoughts on society and social justice. In particular, mainstream society is commonly referred to and viewed as "Babylon", a term from the Christian New Testament connoting the participants' widely held belief that modern lifestyles and systems of government are unhealthy, unsustainable, exploitative and out of harmony with the natural systems of the planet.

The original Rainbow Gathering was in 1972, and has been held annually in the United States from July 1 through 7 every year on National Forest land. Throughout the year, regional and international gatherings are held in the United States and in many other places around the world.

History

The first Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes, a four-day event in Colorado in the United States in July 1972, was organized by youth counterculture "tribes" based in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest. Twenty thousand people faced police roadblocks, threatened civil disobedience, and were allowed onto National Forest land. This was intended to be a one-time event; however, a second gathering in Wyoming the following year materialized, at which point an annual event was declared. The length of the gatherings has since expanded beyond the original four-day span, as have the number and frequency of the gatherings.

Although groups from California and the Northwest region of the U.S. were heavily involved in the first Rainbow Gathering, the U.S. Southeast was strongly represented as well. At least 2,600 people from throughout that region attended and provided support for the 1972 Rainbow Gathering of the Tribes on Strawberry Lake, above Granby, Colorado. There was also strong representation from other regions of the U.S.

Social aspects

Values

The Rainbow Family has no official leaders (though plenty of leadership), no codified, strictly enforced or hierarchical structure, no official spokespersons, no official documents, and no membership. Documents are produced only as needed and maintained by various groups. The values held are love, peace, non-violence, environmentalism, non-consumerism and non-commercialism, volunteerism, respect for others, consensus process, and multicultural diversity.

Non-commercialism

Trading Circle

As Michael Niman notes, "Rainbow Gatherings, as a matter of principle, are free and non-commercial." Using money to buy or sell anything at Rainbow Gatherings is taboo. There are no paid organizers, although there are volunteers ("focalizers") who are crucial to setting up the gathering site. Participants are expected to contribute money, labor, and/or material. All labor is voluntary and never formally compensated; conversely, there is no monetary cost or prior obligation required to attend a Rainbow Gathering.

Aside from taking up collections (the "Magic Hat" in Rainbow parlance) for essential items purchased from the local community, there is little or no exchange of currency internally at a Gathering. The primary principle is that necessities should be freely shared, while luxuries can be traded. A designated trading area is a feature at most U.S. Gatherings. It is called "trading circle" if it is circular and "barter lane" if it is linear. Frequently traded items include items such as sweets (often referred to as "zuzus"), books, zines, crystals, rocks, gems, and handcrafts. In some rare cases people may even trade marijuana or smoking pipes (usually when no police are in the area). Snickers bars have emerged as a semi-standardized unit of exchange at some gatherings.

Non-membership

There are no official leaders, no formal structure, no official spokespersons, and no membership. Some rainbow family participants make the claim that the family is the "largest non-organization of non-members in the world". In addition to referring to itself as a non-organization, the Rainbow Family of Living Light's "non-members" also playfully call the movement a "disorganization". However, there is a changing network of "focalizers" who take responsibility for passing on Rainbow information year-round, and serve as contacts if listed in the Rainbow Guide. In Rainbow lore you require only one thing to be a part of the Family, a bellybutton.

Consensus process

Gatherings are loosely maintained by open, free form councils consisting of any "non-member" who wishes to be part of a council, which use consensus process for making decisions. According to the Mini-manual, "Recognized Rainbow rules come from only one source, main Council at the annual national gatherings."

Talking circles are also a feature of rainbow gatherings. Each participant in the circle talks in turn while all others present listen in silence. A ritual talking stick, feather or other object is passed around the circle so as to allow everyone the opportunity to speak without being interrupted; this is an appropriation of a North American Indigenous custom.

Creativity and spirituality

One of the central features of the annual U.S. gathering is silent meditation on the morning of the Fourth of July, with attendees gathering in a circle in the Main Meadow. At approximately noon the assembly begins a collective "Om" which is ended with whooping and a celebration. A parade of children comes from the Kiddie Village, singing and dancing into the middle of the circle.

The gathering's greeting to new arrivals is "Welcome Home!" "We Love You!" is often heard as it is shouted across the site. "Nic @ Nite" is shouted when one is looking for a cigarette, "Six Up" is shouted at the approach of the police. "Seven Up" is used to distinguish forest rangers, though the terms "Six-Up" and "Seven-Up" are commonly confused with each other they are both recognized as being a signal for law enforcement. The term "Six-Up" came from the fact that some revolvers that officers carry with them hold six bullets in them. "Six-Up" is also used in lieu of the term "Five-Oh". "Five-Oh", or more simply, "Five", became widely known amongst police as a slang term for "police are present", thus derivatives of "Five-Oh" evolved into other similar exultation, such as the aforementioned "Six" or "Six-Up".

Many spiritual traditions are represented, often with their own kitchen, from Hare Krishnas to Orthodox Jews to several varieties of Christianity and many others.

Spiritually, there is a strong tradition of Cultural appropriation, with the largely white attendees performing their ideas of Indigenous ceremonies, African drumming, Rastafarian ways, Eastern religions, Neopaganism, and freethought. New Age beliefs are prevalent. For example, the practice of chanting "Om" before a meal is an example of Hindu practice. Many members express a desire to find "higher self-awareness", to become one with nature and their fellow humans, or connect to a universal consciousness.

Creative events may include variety shows, campfire singing, fire-juggling, and large or small art projects. At one gathering, a cable car was rigged to carry groups of four quickly across the meadow. Faerie Camp was "alive with hundreds of bells and oddly illuminated objects." Musicians and music pervade all Gatherings, at kitchens, on the trails, and at campfires.

Gathering logistics

"Rap 107," concise Gathering participation principles

The Rainbow Family has governed Gatherings of up to 30,000 people. Regional Rainbow gatherings can attract as many as 5,000. The U.S. national gathering occurs around July 1-7th, but people come up to a month earlier to help set up (this is known as "Seed Camp") and remain on site up to a month later to participate in cleanup and to perform site restorations.

Although each event is more or less anarchic, practical guidelines have been reached through the consensus process and are documented in a "Mini-manual". Items which are strongly discouraged, by some, at gatherings include firearms, alcohol, and pets. Other items that tend to be discouraged including radios, tape players, sound amplifiers, and power tools.

Camps and kitchens

Camps and kitchens are the basic community units of the Gathering. Camps may be based on regional, spiritual, or even dietary commonalities. For example, Kid Village attracts attendees with children, Tea Time specializes in serving herbal teas, Jesus Camp has a Christian foundation. Some kitchens such as the Turtle Soup Kitchen serve predominantly vegetarian meals. Lovin' Ovens is a kitchen which craft ovens out of clay and mud in the area and will cook food such as pizza (meat, vegetarian, and vegan) and different types of bread and snacks. Nic@Nite is a camp that focuses on the sharing of tobacco and tobacco related products.

Not all camps are kitchens, but all kitchens are camps. In addition to feeding passers-by, kitchens send food to the one or two large communal, predominantly vegetarian meals served daily in the main meadow.

Water and sanitation

Drinking water is filtered at gatherings, both by small pump filters and large gravity-feed devices. Attendees are encouraged also to boil drinking water. Water is often tapped at a source (such as a spring or stream) and run hundreds of yards to main kitchens in the gathering via plastic hosing.

Sanitation has historically been a major concern at Rainbow Gatherings. Human waste is deposited in latrine trenches (typically referred to as 'shitters') and treated with lime and ash from campfires. New latrines are dug and filled in daily. The 1987 gathering in North Carolina experienced an outbreak of highly contagious shigellosis (a.k.a. dysentery) causing diarrhea.

C.A.L.M.

C.A.L.M., or the Center for Alternative Living Medicine, is the primary group of doctors at Rainbow Gatherings who assist people with health and wellness and take responsibility for medical emergencies and sanitation of those who attend these large gatherings. It is an all volunteer, non-hierarchical group encompassing both mainstream, conventional medicine and alternative medicine, such as naturopathic healing modalities. It is common to find physicians working with herbalists, EMTs helping massage therapists and naturopaths coordinating with Registered Nurses on patient care. C.A.L.M. works closely with Shanti Sena, as they are often the first on the scene in a crisis. There is usually one main C.A.L.M. camp near the inner part of the gatherings and smaller first aid stations set up around the Gatherings. Even those without medical experience are encouraged to help with things such as procuring water and cooking for the healers, who are often too busy to attend main circle or visit other kitchens. In case of any emergency CALM can be contacted on FRS Channel 3 (no tones, 462.6125 MHz UHF) and other site-specific radio frequencies.

Shanti Sena

Within the Rainbow Gathering, security, conflict resolution, and emergency situations are handled by Shanti Sena ("Peace Keepers"), which includes anyone who is capable of helping at that time. Shanti Sena also sometimes act as liaisons to observers and law enforcement officers who patrol the Rainbow Gathering, often tracking the movements of police and park rangers through the gathering, and overseeing the interactions between officers and people attending the gathering to ensure that neither group instigates or takes part in illegal or inflammatory confrontations. This type of interference with police operations resulted in numerous arrests in the 1987 gathering in North Carolina, with state, federal and local officers being assaulted, blocked from patrol areas and threatened. The Shanti Sena at the '87 gathering were characterized by local, state, and federal officers as a criminal gang and were suspected to have collaborated in the assault on an Asheville Citizen-Times reporter. Several gathering members who reported they had been expelled from the gathering called the Shanti Sena "gestapo" and thugs. In some particularly serious situations, Shanti Sena have collaborated with law enforcement (although without violating the Gathering's principle of consensus). For example, gathering regular and wanted murder suspect Joseph Geibel was peacefully approached by Shanti Sena and transferred to police custody at the 1998 gathering.

"Shanti Sena" is also used as a call for aid; an individual finding him- or herself in a dispute can shout the phrase. Everyone within earshot is expected to then investigate and reach a consensus agreement to settle the dispute.

Difficulties and criticisms

Difficulties include:

• The often unacknowledged class and power structures of the Rainbow community and its events.
• The phenomenon of "Drainbows"—individuals who are perceived to not give sufficiently of their labor or other resources for the common good, but rather are only consuming the social benefits a Rainbow gathering offers (a classic cooperation problem).
• Relationships with both the Forest Service as well as local communities and other stakeholders in National Forest lands (both commercial interests as well as local environmentalists, who are often concerned about Gathering impacts).
• Denial of Forest lands to other visitors.
• The Spring Council of the Rainbow Family does not inform the U.S. Forest Service of the gathering location until a few days prior to the event.
• Exposing the public to nudity, drug use and drunkenness.
• Damage to forest lands, campgrounds and facilities, with human waste, trash and other mess such as abandoned vehicles.
• Overwhelming of local hospitals, police agencies, jails, courts and roadways.
• High costs for local and federal governments as a result of the gathering.

Cost to local and federal governments

• Costs local jurisdictions must bear. For example, the 2013 gathering in Beaverhead County, Montana experienced uncollectible patient charges for emergency room care and additional costs incurred at the county's hospital, which totaled an estimated $175,000.
• Cost to federal government of $573,000 according to Tim Walther, assistant special agent in charge of law enforcement for the Forest Service. A total of 850 incident reports, written warnings and citations were recording during the event. Of this 405 incident reports were written up for Rainbow people not following the operational plan agreed upon by the Rainbows and the Forest Service.

Relations with law enforcement

Police and medics near "trading circle" at the annual U.S. national Rainbow Gathering in West Virginia, 2005

In an October 2008 report the American Civil Liberties Union stated: "The U.S. Forest Service systematically harasses people who attend Rainbow Family gatherings on public lands."

All major gatherings in the United States are held on National Forest land, which is under the jurisdiction of the United States Forest Service, a federal agency with its own federal law enforcement officers. County sheriffs have concurrent jurisdiction on all forest lands, as do county police and local police depending on location, community boundaries and locals laws. So too do state law enforcement agencies, namely state wildlife wardens, state troopers and state police or bureaus of investigation. Many local gatherings occur in remote areas, with county sheriffs being the primary response. They often request deputies from neighboring counties and officers from area police departments. Additionally, it is common for state conservation and wildlife officers and state troopers to deploy. The Forest Service has often received assistance from the FBI, US Marshalls for fugitives, DEA for drug trafficking and other federal agencies. The USFS has tried to prevent these gatherings from taking place because it denies all others access to the forest and the surrounding area for the duration of the gathering or insisted that a group-use permit be signed, contending that this is standard practice for large groups wishing to camp on public land and that it is necessary to protect public safety and the local environment. Gathering organizers generally contend that the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights give them the right to peaceably assemble on public land and that requiring a permit would violate that basic right by turning it into a privilege to be regulated. (The Gatherings did attempt to initially work within the permit system starting in 1976, but found the government-imposed requirements for facilities and insurance too onerous.)

In 1984, the Forest Service enacted a regulation requiring a permit for any expressive assembly of ten or more people on Forest Service lands. This was unenforced for a year and a half before the Service attempted to apply it to the gathering in Arizona in 1986. Judge Bilby called attention to the selective enforcement of the regulation, and in any case ruled it unconstitutional, in part because it required expressive assemblies, but not non-expressive ones, to obtain permits.

In the 1987 gathering in Graham County NC, the then Governor of North Carolina, James G. Martin, deployed 150 State Troopers and 50 State Wildlife Officers to Graham County to assist the Graham County Sheriff. The sheriff reported that he was overwhelmed and had reinforcement deputies from three neighboring counties, but reported he was still helpless to handle the volume of incidents. Rainbows had seized the Slick Rock Road area of Nantahala National Forest with over 12,000 people and then blocked federal and local law enforcement officers from patrolling the area by felling a tree in the road. Underage drinking, assaults, traffic violations, thefts, nudity, drug incidents involving hard drugs, attacks on law enforcement officers and presence of numerous fugitives overwhelmed local law enforcement. When approximately 75 officers moved in, the number of arrested persons required a NC Prison Department bus to transport them to jails, which were filled in every western NC jail the weekend of July 4. The remaining Rainbows were eventually forced out of the area by state, local and federal officers in early August 1987.

The U.S. government has in the past pressured individuals to be representatives of the Gathering (e.g., to sign a permit), however, this is in violation of the well-established Rainbow principle that "no individual may officially represent the Family as a whole." A number of court cases have resulted from both Forest Service prosecutions and Rainbow Family-inspired legal actions against enforcement activities; the Forest Service found itself rebuffed by the judge in a defendant class suit originating from the 1987 North Carolina gathering, among other defeats.

A notable account of Gathering relations with law enforcement, Judge Dave and the Rainbow People, was written by U.S. Federal Judge David Sentelle. The book provides a first hand account of Sentelle's role in presiding over the 1987 case brought by the State of North Carolina in an attempt to stop the Gathering, including site visits to the Gathering and related legal actions. Garrick Beck, an active Rainbow Family member and protagonist of the 1987 case, wrote an afterword to the book in which he expresses agreement with Sentelle's characterizations. Beck later tried to sue law enforcement for making warrantless arrests, photographing persons and license plates and not reading arrested persons their rights. The suit was dismissed, as none of the allegations, true or not, indicated any wrongdoing by officers but were as the court noted, perfectly normal and lawful police practices and standard procedures for all peace offices.

The Forest Service has dealt with the scale of the US Annual Rainbow Gathering in the past by assigning a Type 2 National Incident Management Team (NIMT). Around 40 personnel from the NIMT have been assigned in the past, including NIMT members, Forest Service law enforcement officers (LEOs) and resource advisors. Because the Rainbow Gathering has utilized the land in the past without required consent from the Forest Service, the gatherings have been given special attention, as under current Forestry rules and regulations they may occur illegally.

In 1999 and again in 2000, the NIMT selected three gathering participants who were charged with "use or occupancy of National Forest System lands without authorization." The citation carried a maximum penalty of six months and a $5,000 fine; the charges originally could have been cleared by paying a $100 fine. Instead, they all chose to fight it in court, but lost their appeals. The three 1999 cases were later turned down by the Supreme Court.

An individual's application for a permit for the 2006 United States Annual Gathering was denied. The reasons for denial were that there was "inadequate ingress/egress in case of a large fire" and that a permit would "conflict with existing uses for businesses that have Priority Permits and have activities planned in the area". The Gathering elected to take place without the permit. Three "incidents involving aggressive actions toward Forest Service personnel" were reported in a Forest Service press release of June 29, as were two arrests for assault on Forest Service personnel. Additionally, the NIMT issued a total of 218 citations for violation of federal regulations.

At the 2008 National Gathering in Wyoming, an incident occurred whereby Forest Service officers tried to arrest a member of the group. A spokeswoman for the U.S. Forest Service said that about 400 participants in the Gathering began to advance, throwing sticks and rocks at the officers, although this was disputed by Gathering participants. Pepper balls were then fired to control the crowd. Witnesses reported that officers pointed weapons at children and fired rubber bullets at gathering participants. The ACLU produced a report following their investigation of the incident in which they were critical of the officers for a pattern of harassment and using overzealous enforcement techniques, using small violations as a pretense for larger searches.

Alcohol

According to the guidelines, or Raps of the Rainbow Gathering, open and public consumption of alcohol is discouraged by many people at the gatherings with respect for others being the primary reason. A distinguishing characteristic of the U.S. annual gatherings is "A-Camp," (commonly, and mistakenly, thought to mean "alcohol camp") typically located near the front gate, where some of those who want to openly drink alcohol usually stay, yet public drinking is generally accepted in most camps close to the road. Gatherings in Europe do not have "A-Camps." Some gatherings in Canada have "A-Camps" and some do not. Wine is tolerated in moderation at some European gatherings, particularly in France, where it is customary to drink wine with the evening meal.

Confusion over Hopi legend

There has been a longstanding Rainbow rumor that the gathering was or is recognized by the elders of the Hopi people as the fulfillment of a Hopi prophecy. This was debunked as fakelore by Michael I. Niman in his 1997 People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia. Niman traced the supposed Hopi prophecies to the 1962 book Warriors of the Rainbow by William Willoya and Vinson Brown, which compares prophecies of major religious sects throughout the world with tales of visions from Indigenous peoples of the Americas. The fake prophecy was written by non-Natives as part of an Evangelical Christian agenda; Niman describes the source as purveying "a covert anti-Semitism throughout, while evangelizing against traditional Native American spirituality."

Deaths

In July 2011, a woman named Marie Hanson, from South Lake Tahoe, California went missing in Skookum Meadow, Washington State while attending the 2011 Rainbow Gathering at Gifford Pinchot National Forest. The local Sheriff's office reportedly initially refused to use tracking dogs at the site, stating they were not certain a crime had taken place. After pleas by the Hanson family and the Rainbow Family, a series of 4 searches by Rainbow Family members, law enforcement and the Hanson Family took place during late summer and fall of 2011. In October 2011, human remains and jewelry were found near the woman's campsite. It was later confirmed that the remains were those of Marie Hanson.

In 2011, three unrelated fatalities occurred at Rainbow Gatherings, including two fatalities at the 2011 Washington State national Rainbow Gathering. The Washington State deaths were those of Amber Kellar, a 28-year-old Californian who died of a preexisting medical condition, and Steve Pierce, a 50-year-old Californian who died of a fatal heart attack. In February 2011, a man drowned in a Farles Prairie pond during a regional Rainbow Gathering in Ocala National Forest, Florida.

Gatherings outside the United States

The Québec tipi at the World Gathering in Costa Rica, 2004

Sizable gatherings are routinely held all over the world, in such places as many countries of Europe and Americas, Australia, New Zealand, Armenia, Georgia, Israel, Turkey, Japan and India.

European Gatherings

Many European countries host their own national or regional gatherings. There is an annual European gathering. The first European Rainbow Gathering was organized in 1983 in Val Campo, Ticino, Switzerland. The 2007 European gathering was the 25th edition of that annual event and took place in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The subsequent two European Gatherings took place in Serbia (2008), Ukraine (2009) and Finland (2010). Also in February 2010, there was a Rainbow Gathering on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands in the barranco (ravine) that lies in the north of the island between Franceses and El Tablado, and later the same year, in the central island of the archipelago, Gran Canaria. The 2011 gathering was in Iberia, 2012 in Slovakia, 2013 in Greece, and the 2014 gathering in Romania. There was consensus in vision council in Romania that next European Gathering would be in the Baltic.

World Gatherings

World Gatherings have been held in Australia, Zimbabwe, Brazil, Costa Rica, Canada, Turkey, Thailand, China, and Aotearoa/New Zealand. The 2000 World Gathering in Australia, held on farmland in Boonoo Boonoo State Forest, northern New South Wales, attracted 3000 people at full moon. The 2009 world gathering was held outside Murchison, Aotearoa/New Zealand. The 2011 world gathering was held in Argentina. In 2012 it was held in Brazil, beginning on January 23, and in 2013 it was once again held in Canada, on Vancouver Island in the western province of British Columbia.

Rainbow Retreats, at the World Rainbow Gathering in Turkey in May, 2005, there was a consensus to create a World pillage Healing Retreat following each World Rainbow Gathering.

List of Gatherings

United States Annual Rainbow Gatherings

• 1972: Arapahoe National Forest, near Granby, Colorado
• 1973: Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming
• 1974: Dixie National Forest, Utah
• 1975: Ozark National Forest, Arkansas
• 1976: Lewis and Clark National Forest, Montana
• 1977: Gila National Forest, New Mexico
• 1978: Umpqua National Forest, Oregon
• 1979: Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona
• 1980: Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia
• 1981: Colville National Forest, Washington
• 1982: Boise National Forest, Idaho
• 1983: Ottawa National Forest, Michigan
• 1984: Modoc National Forest, California
• 1985: Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
• 1986: Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania
• 1987: Nantahala National Forest, North Carolina
• 1988: Angelina National Forest, Texas
• 1989: Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Nevada
• 1990: Superior National Forest, Minnesota
• 1991: Green Mountain National Forest, Vermont
• 1992: Gunnison National Forest, Colorado
• 1993: Talladega National Forest, Alabama and
  Daniel Boone National Forest, Kentucky
• 1994: Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming
• 1995: Carson National Forest, New Mexico
• 1996: Mark Twain National Forest, Missouri
• 1997: Ochoco National Forest, Oregon
• 1998: Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest, Arizona
• 1999: Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania
• 2000: Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana
• 2001: Boise National Forest, Idaho
• 2002: Ottawa National Forest, Michigan
• 2003: Wasatch-Cache National Forest, Utah
• 2004: Modoc National Forest, California
• 2005: Monongahela National Forest, West Virginia
• 2006: Routt National Forest, Colorado
• 2007: Ozark National Forest, Arkansas
• 2008: Bridger-Teton National Forest, Wyoming
• 2009: Santa Fe National Forest, New Mexico
• 2010: Allegheny National Forest, Pennsylvania
• 2011: Gifford Pinchot National Forest, Washington
• 2012: Cherokee National Forest, Tennessee
• 2013: Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest, Montana
• 2014: Uinta National Forest, Utah

The European Gatherings

Impromptu art at the Rainbow World Gathering 2004 in Costa Rica. This is reminiscent of a "duck" style trail marker in which stones are stacked to mark a hiking trail. Similar to "duck" trail markers are cairns, which generally represent landmarks.

• 1983 Switzerland
• 1984 Switzerland
• 1985 North Italy (alternative site)
• 1986 France
• 1987 Spain
• 1988 Spain
• 1989 Norway
• 1990 Austria
• 1991 Poland
• 1992 Poland
• 1993 Ireland (Ballyhuppahane)
• 1994 Slovenia
• 1995 Czech Republic
• 1996 Portugal
• 1997 Greece and Scotland. Two official European Gatherings were held this year.
• 1998 Russia
• 1999 Hungary (on the path of the solar eclipse of 11 August)
• 2000 Romania
• 2001 Croatia
• 2002 Italy
• 2003 France (Pyrenees)
• 2004 Bulgaria
• 2005 Germany
• 2006 England
• 2007 Bosnia
• 2008 Serbia
• 2009 Ukraine (Carpathian Mountains between L'viv and Uzhorod.)
• 2010 Finland (Leppävirta)
• 2011 Portugal (Salto)
• 2012 Slovakia Lukovistia
• 2013 Greece (Gramos, Macedonia)
• 2014 Romania

Our Tradition at Rainbow Gathering Borneo, Indonesia

Gatherings in other countries

• 2009 India, Himalayas, Taiwan
• 2010 Belarus
• 2010 Moldova
• 2010 Taiwan
• 2010 Slovakia
• 2010 Czech Republic
• 2010 Portugal
• 2009 Lithuania
• 2010 Lithuania
• 2011 Lithuania
• 2011 Croatia (Eko-village Blatuša)
• 2011 Indonesia
• 2012 Lithuania
• 2013 Lithuania, India
• 2014 Turkey
• 2014 Indonesia (Borneo)

  

  Full Moon Circle at the Rainbow Gathering Borneo, Indonesia

• 2015 Aotearoa/New Zealand (Tuateawa,Coromandel Peninsula and Karamea,West Coast.) Sources: Rainbow Family Aotearoa Facebook page ; Te Whanau Uenuku - Rainbow Family of Aotearoa/ New Zealand Co-activate site.

World Gatherings

At the Rainbow World Gathering 2004 in Costa Rica

• 1997 Australia (Maryfarms, Queensland)
• 2000 Australia
• 2001 Zimbabwe (on the path of the solar eclipse)
• 2003 Brazil (Chapada Diamantina National Park in Bahia)
• 2004 Costa Rica
• 2004 Quebec, Canada (Turtle Island Gathering, World Gathering)
• 2005 Turkey
• 2006 Thailand
• 2008 China
• 2009 Mexico
• 2010 New Zealand
• 2011 Argentina
• 2012 Brazil (Caparaó National Park in Espírito Santo)
• 2012 Guatemala
• 2012 Mexico (Palenque)
• 2013 Canada
• 2014 Hungary

Balkan Gatherings

• 2010 Republic of Macedonia
• 2011 Croatia
• 2012 Bulgaria Ribin Dol
• 2013 Bulgaria Ruchey
• 2014 Greece

Bibliography

• Niman, Michael I. People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia (1997) University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-0-87049-989-0
• Niman, Michael I. People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia 2nd Edition (2011) University of Tennessee Press. ISBN 978-1572337466
• Sentelle, David B. Judge Dave and the Rainbow People (2002) Green Bag Press. ISBN 0-9677568-3-9
• Bill, Butterfly Rainbow Gatherings, a memoir (2010) Bliss Fire Press. ISBN 978-0-615-33043-3

External links

• Rainbow Gathering
• "We Love You" - documentary
• Rainbow Gathering lacks one color — green - High Country News on environmental impact of Gatherings
• Rainbow Gathering site returning to normal, 1 year later, NBC Montana
• Crews clean up in wake of Rainbow Family Gathering