This February, I attended the Source, a burn festival at Keanae on Maui. My goals were to experience a tribal/ spiritual/ community/ gathering of similar minded folks on the islands and to discover/ network/ communicate with fellow artists on Maui. I was coming alone, without any known contacts, but these events are a great way to meet like-minded companions.

The festival was held at Camp Keanae, a YMCA camp. This may seem to be an odd choice for an alternative life style festival, but it seemed to have the right balance of remoteness and civilization.

The camp was located at the top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. The view was spectacular, but I can’t help but wonder how many YMCA kids they lost off the edge of the cliff.

I arrived a bit early to be sure of getting one of the bunk beds. I need not have worried, over a quarter of the bunk beds went unused throughout the event. The bunk beds were a welcome concept and gave it a slumber party atmosphere.

Those who had the equipment could set up tents in the back area. The bunks were welcome, but I think that the tent people were more in the spirit of the event.

Unlike chance encounters on subways, greeting strangers is easy and offering candy is optional. The standard greeting ritual, as with most gatherings, involves the exchanging of names, followed by the question, “Where are you from?” Quite a few people, use these names as an opportunity to establish a tribal identity. They will introduce themselves as with a name like Starchild or Goddess Gardenia. This is an effective way of establishing a new persona and perhaps a more evolved state of consciousness for one’s self, but it can be a bit embarrassing, when their old friends refer to them as Betty.

For me, it was the, “Where are you from” query that proved to be difficult. For many people all this query requires a simple rote geographical response. But, I lead a rather scattered existence, with home bases in Maui (Launiupoko, near Lahaina) Hawaii; San Francisco (South of Market), California; and Henderson (adjacent to Las Vegas), Nevada, and I have to give the question a little thought. At this event, I first answered the question with “Las Vegas”, letting them know that I had come all the way from the Mainland to join the event.

But then as the first people I chatted with were from Alaska, Chicago, Santa Cruz, New York, and Arizona, I began to answer with “Lahaina”, it was less than fifty miles away, but seemed more exotic. Most of the non-Hawaiians had either been to Burning Man or were planning to attend this year. Most of the Hawaiians saw no need to leave the island.

When you parked your car, you were asked to give your name and a distinguishing feature, in case they need to track you down. I put down “grey mustache”. This proved to be oddly unique, as there were very few of us at the event who had been to a Doors concert or stayed at an early San Francisco commune. One dude in his early twenties was asking me about the visions of the old days. It seemed weird being a village elder.

Maui is a place of scenic beauty. Even the Locals never have a chance to get inoculated from it as the Mainlanders are constantly marveling at the sight of palm trees, whales breaching in the distance, and the fact that you can go shirtless in February. The Source was held on the jungle (wet) side of Maui, but despite warning to prepare for tropical rain, it was dry during the entire event.

There were three indoor areas for gathering, the dining room, the gym, and the Womb Room, all with scheduled events and open time. The Womb Room was the most interesting of the spaces. To enter the room, you had to step through a giant vagina. Here one needed to look cool as you performed an action that could be described as either returning to the source of one’s beginning or committing a act of Lilliputian perversity.

There was some excellent art in all three areas, but curiously no evident signs, maps, or guide sheets saying who the artists were. I did manage to meet some of the artists, but it was strictly through synchronicity. While I am not opposed to the synchronous life, this is not the most efficient means of conveying information

There was also a number of site specific outdoor interactive installation pieces. I particularly enjoyed the mirror doors and the fire features.

The first evening had a pono ceremony where over a hundred celebrants gathered in a large circle in the dark and passed around an avocado seed. It was a religious event with the Hawaiian concepts of mana and pono being explained and invoked. The island of Maui is a spiritual vortex. And there are some who seek to find a continuity with the New Age movement of Peace, Oneness, Inclusiveness, and the Goddess principle with the Old Hawaiian religion. But this ignores the aspects of the Old Religion that dealt with violence, human sacrifice, strict social hierarchy, and complex taboos.

It reminds me of when I was in my Christian pacifist era and sought to make the God of the Old Testament a god of love and inclusiveness. This can be done, but it involves a careful selectiveness as to which scriptures you accept and which you ignore. The historical side of me views this as a heresy of the Old Religion, but ultimately, I think that the world would definitely benefit from a deeper understanding of the Hawaiian concepts of pono and mana. The pono ritual gave the event a uniquely Maui flavor.

As with most Burning Man satellite events, there is the need to burn something. So on Saturday night there was a burning of wood stacked in a metal frame of the Source symbol.

As also, as with Burning Man, there is no explanation as to why the burning takes place, but we were all there celebrating the pyro event with fire dancers, spontaneous music, and the sheer magic of just watching a bonfire burn.

I have no ideal what it meant, but we all had a good time.

Later in the night there was a second bonfire of a Whale Basket.

Another wonderful feature of the Source was the grass. No, no, the other kind of grass, the lawn grass. Many of us city folk have forgotten the freedom and tactile pleasure of frolicking barefoot in the great outdoors. Sandals were popular, but many favored the luxurious option of bare feet.

Then we come to the rest of one’s wardrobe. One seldom likes to appear at an event being over or underdressed. Some exhibited flamboyant costumes, but most dressed for practicality. Underdressing was not really an issue. The event is listed as clothing optional, but only a few took the option to divest themselves of clothing entirely, and those who did so, confined themselves to the area of the tents.

Another option to bare skin or clothing is simply to have your body painted.

Or maybe just your face.

Some of the women ventured to go topless, but most favored tank tops, halters, loose fitting dresses, and swim-wear. Bras, unless worn as a halter top were considered unnecessary affectations.

For men, a tee shirt or going shirtless was the usual option, (But, strangely enough, that staple of Hawaiian Men’s apparel, the Aloha shirt, that universal apparel that can be worn at backyard barbecues, fancy restaurants, funerals, and fishing trips, was nowhere to be seen.) then jeans, shorts, or a sarong over the lower body. The fashion conscious should note that the kilt and the tutu, popular items with both sexes at Burning Man, were relatively rare.

One could just spend the day hanging out, but there were scheduled science lectures, dancing, alternative films, workshops, yoga, and burlesque.

There was a printed schedule, but I have lived long enough on the islands to know that on Maui time, events take place when the time is right, rather than slavishly adhering to the position of the hands on a clock.

I always feel more a part of an event if I help make it work. Then it becomes, our event, instead of their event. Here I helped out a bit in the kitchen.

Did I mention, that meals came with the price of admission. The food was tasty and quite above my expectations.

I often do a lot of work with science fiction conventions on the organizational level. Is there anything that I would have changed, if I had had a say in running things? Well, yes. Two things that could be improved upon were the parking situation and the unrelenting amplified music. Parking space was limited and the shuttle mentioned in the pre-event website did not materialize. There was no auxiliary near-site parking or valet service. Seven cars had to move before I could get out and I was blocking someone else. Perhaps renting a field on the lower peninsula and having a short shuttle would have been a better solution.

Then there was the music. There was a sound tent set up in a natural amphitheater and the sound carried everywhere on the site. On Friday, during the day, I marveled at the sound of the ocean. After Friday evening the amplified music did not stop. I had at first thought that when it continued at one, two, or three in the morning that an oblivious DJ was the culprit. But, no, they had full live programming that did not stop. A number of people had brought their drums, guitars and other instruments, but if they wanted to play, they had to compete with the amplified music that did not stop.

I am not saying that the music was bad or uninteresting, I mean, I had never heard a female Goddess rap group before. I enjoy music, but I also enjoy a break where I can hear the natural sounds around me. I brought some ear plugs for sleeping, but they proved to be sadly ineffective. Some of my roommates loved the constant music. They were up on some herbal concoctions and danced the night away. They apparently live their life on a sound track. I have no objections to a twenty four hour music program, but must it all be amplified music? Some of us prefer to give our ears a choice. Ah, well.

But aside from these two issues, I had a great time at the event, met some wonderful people, and enjoyed attending an alternative life festival done Maui style.

Aloha.