Th’ Gatherin’ Ancient Festival O’ Beltane

We arrived at the Beltane festival on Friday afternoon with forecasts of rain/hail/snow and some wind. Although the wind whipped for a while, it calmed down, we got no snow, but the temperature dropped to 28 degrees. We were cozy, on the hill, in our Casita.

The Highland Games themselves started mid morning. We dressed in our kilts after lunch and toured the grounds seeing the vendors, witnessing the blessings of the clans, the tribute to the "fallen warriors" (which included the attendees and locals loved ones who had passed since the last festival), and for the first time I got to see the kids do the Maypole. That evening we went to the Warrior's Feast which was where the winners of the games were announced. We ate, with our fingers, in bread bowls and then went outside to the burning of the Beltane Fires. Although this was originally a Pagan Ritual to welcome the new spring, we have a resident vicar (or two) that help plan the festivities and prays over us all. We bundled up in our blankets, sitting on the lawn chairs into the evening while the fires burned and the children and young folks, okay, some of the oldies too, danced around the fire until it burned down. We stayed until the larger poles where only skeletons in the fire. We had a great view of a starlit sky on the way back up the hill to our camp. It was a good time.

Sunday morning is always sad for me because after the Church Service the party is over and the only movement around is the tents being taken down and the campers pulling out. A couple of children scrounging for lost Mardi Gras beads and the smoldering fire were the last sites I saw as we walked away from the grounds. One look back was a striking view of the tree where the names of the "fallen warriors" were written on long ribbons and attached to its branches, the wind rippling the ribbons in the sunlight. The finishing touch would have been the vicar playing Amazing Grace on his bagpipes, but it was not to be.

We loaded up and headed back to Russell, KS, where we visited Les' 92 year old father and then Les took me out to look for shark's teeth which are buried in an old wash, some layers down, as they are prehistoric. He used to go pick them up as a kid after the thaw before the spring rains. He remembers just picking them up, but now you have to work for them. When we got to this place there was a couple with their niece and nephew, who were happy to show us the stuff they had dug out of the bank. They had several small boxes full of the black sharks teeth, both shards of them and whole ones, big and small. Also some grinder teeth as well as bones of prehistoric fish. This guy found a fin of some prehistoric platapus (he said) some years ago, he notified Fort Hays State University who sent a guy out - guess it got written up somewhere. We puttered around for a while - I didn't find much but Les found a couple of recognizable pieces.

Monday morning we had a really good visit with Les' dad. We had hoped to go looking for some native stone to take back to Wichita, but it started storming so we headed home.

Ahhhhh - it's nice to be home - again!

Take Care, All!

Joy

and Les.

Les' Reader's Digest Version:
Took camper to Ceder Bluff Lake Kansas.
Attended Th'Gaterin of the the Clans, And Beltane festival. The Scottish Highland games were good. I'd forgot how huge some of the western Kansas girls/boys can be. We wore our plaid skirts (kilts). I was on Bodice Patroll and did quite well. Here is a cool site, if you have time: http://shorock.com/folk/gatherin/2008/
Went to visit my 92 year old dad.
Took Joy out to a prehistoric sea bed, North of Gorham Ks, and dug for Sharks teeth. I found two.

Years gone by it would have been to watch Submarine races, but at my age I settled for finding teeth, IN THE DAYLIGHT.
Back in Wichita.