Bonfires, Drums and Dancing-Heck, Yeah

Kokopelli

Right now I’m supposed to be working on a marketing plan, but my inner Kokopelli says do this instead.

Last night while I was teaching my class-Fine Arts for Adults Who Want Their Crayons Back-and doing my standup philosopher routine, my students started smiling. I had hit a nerve. I said that we Americans don’t have enough fun. What we need are more bonfires, drums and dancing.

As I study indigenous cultures I see that all peoples, except our particular rivulet in the river of life, have bonfires, drums and dancing. You know those documentaries where they (usually condescendingly) depict the Yawannamobos or whatever and they always show the Yawannamobo ritual dances?

After watching 1,000 of these, I was stricken with a strange thought for a person of Northern European ancestry: “That looks like fun.” Rain dances, dances for the hunt, dances where the spirit of the forest (a guy on stilts in a leaf outfit) makes you repent of your sins, dances for young men to show off their muscles, whatever-it looks like FUN. Why don’t we do it?

Our distant ancestors must have had bonfires, drums and dancing-how did we lose it? How did the minuet gain popularity? I suspect it’s a class warfare thing. You would need lessons to ‘minuet ‘ properly, but anyone can jump into the glow of the bonfire and cut loose.

A certain philosopher who said “God is dead” also said he could not believe in a God who did not dance. I am convinced that God has no objection at all to bonfires, drums and dancing. Shoot, sing hymns while you dance.

Just get out there and have fun.