Mad Town Monday X: Here a Pagan, There a Pagan

I've come to realize that Madison is the place that the hippies have found a home. For instance, my landlord is a nice gray haired lady that runs a massage business and wears crystals, we have at least one street fair a month and Whole Foods is the most popular place in town. But never was it more apparent that we are Mecca for hippies than at the Solstice Festival.

That's right we have a Solstice Festival where everyone dances around a huge bonfire as the sun slowly sets. I've never felt so pagan in my whole life as I did standing there. But let's start at the beginning...

We arrived at the park a little before sundown and found a good crowd of people and music.

But best of all, there was free ice cream!

We goofed off for a little while exploring the park.

And then it was time for the fire to be lit!

I didn't know feeding princesses to a dragon was part of this event...

 

The fire was surrounded by lots of crazy people dancing and even a drum circle. It was exactly what you would think of if I told you to picture a hippie solstice ceremony. Which was kinda awesome.

But the fire was also surrounded by a lot of muddy ground, which made Lewis want to start a mud fight. Unfortunately, he is too nice to just go up to a random stranger and throw mud in their face so he kept looking for someone, ANYONE who would join in his fun. (I, of course, couldn't because someone had to stay with the baby. ;) ) After a while, he decided that throwing mud up in the air should get the kids riled up enough to start slinging mud at each other.

Surprisingly, they didn't take the bait. He did come after me though!

The Baby thought this was a terrible idea!

He wasn't too mean about it though. I only got a little on my face and shirt.

After the fire burned down, the most magnificent storm rose up and people scattered for the nearest trees. Huge water drops thundered down. We were sopping wet and thrilled by Nature's powerful display by the time we reached our car. The baby was NOT thrilled, however, so we whisked him into the car as fast as possible. Then Lewis and I danced in the rain and splashed in the puddles until all the mud was washed away, our childish glee was satiated, and we simply couldn't stand the howls from the car any longer. Reminded that we aren't care free children anymore, we returned to our unhappy child and our normal lives that do not include running in the rain, jumping in puddles or pagan solstice ceremonies.