Descriptive Essay Example 1

Kerri Brown
Enc. 1101
Professor Register
Essay 1
2/14/09

Around the Fire


When I was 17, I was kidnapped by hippies! I was whisked away and crammed into the back of a truck with five other people, all our camping gear, two djembes*, and a dog. I knew we were headed for the Rainbow Gathering, an annual event that takes place in the Ocala National Forest, but being that I had never been to one before, I had no idea what to expect. The whole weekend proved to be memorable, but the part that stands out most vividly in my mind will always be my first drum circle.

The drum circle began at sundown. Initially, the sky was streaked with the most vibrant shades of violet, orange, and magenta. The colors deepened as the sun retired for the evening, and finally faded to black, revealing millions of stars that seemed to shine brighter in anticipation of the evening to come. A huge clearing in the woods had been designated for the festivities. Earlier in the day, someone had dug a fire pit that was easily 100 feet across and shaped like a heart. For some reason, the dirt in the Ocala National Forest closely resembled beach sand, and seemed to shimmer with reflection of the fire.

I was astonished at the number of people that had gathered around the fire. It seemed strange to me that at least 150 people had come together in the middle of the forest to play music and dance around a fire. There were families with small children and people who looked old enough to have great grandchildren. Some people looked (and smelled) like they had been living in the woods for years, adorned with dreadlocks and hand made patchwork clothes, while others looked like they had spent a huge portion of their lives within the confines of a cubicle, staring at a computer screen. It was obvious that there was no dress code. There were women dressed like belly dancers, men in long skirts, and grungy looking kids with mohawks, wearing jeans and band tees. Some people even opted to wear nothing at all.

The variety of musical instruments that sang out through the woods was as diverse as the group of people who had come together to play them. There were drums of all shapes and sizes, bells, horns, castanets, buckets, cans, and even a few didgeridoos**. Initially, only the people with djembes played to establish a beat, but before long, everyone in attendance was either playing an instrument, clapping along, or singing and dancing around the fire. The music was almost hypnotizing and it was obvious that everyone else had become entranced as well. I felt like Alice who had accidentally tumbled down a rabbit hole, and into a completely different world.

Being that I am not musically inclined, and that the whole Rainbow Gathering experience was so new to me, I was a little leery of joining in, and felt much more comfortable as an observer. The fire looked like it had grown to the same height as the trees around it, and seemed to flicker, dance, and sway to the mesmerizing sounds of the drum circle. At one point, the music became intense, and it seemed as if everyone had become possessed by it. Everywhere I looked, people were dancing as if they would never dance again. Some people seemed to have resigned control of their bodies to unseen puppeteers hell bent on putting on a good show. From the outside looking in, the whole event looked like a spinning frenzy set ablaze by the fire and breathed to life by joyful, almost tribal sounding beats.

Though the festivities carried on throughout the night, the group dwindled as the hours passed. The music never stopped completely, but had obviously reached its climax and would never become anywhere near as spirited as it had been to begin with. I spent the rest of the night engaged in conversation with people with names like Amnesia, Krusty, and Faerie. And though the fire had died down considerably, someone always happened to be around who was dedicated enough to keep it going until the sun came up to relieve him of his duties.

* A djembe is a skin covered hand drum.
** A Didgeridoo is a wind instrument of the Aborigines of northern Australia.