Red skirts
Wood Sisters encircling the Red Tent frame
On Saturday 23rd June, the Wood Sisters held their Midsummer Gathering, which, after myth and meditation in the morning, comprises crafts and ceremony in the afternoon. At the height of Midsummer we had a very special craft and ceremony afternoon which was also a Red Tent day.
The jigsaw begins
For the second time we put up the frame of the Red Tent in summer sunshine. Twenty Wood Sisters were there to witness and help with the task.
Raising the frame
All hands to the poles
Nearly there
Fitting the poles into the new loops in the tension band
Since last weekend, Toby had finished the lintel and sill and they were fitted for the first time.
Doorway
Then Dee and Kay arrived with the canvas which they had been sewing right up to the last moment.
Fitting the lintel
Sue and Sam opened the tent bag to reveal the stunning red skirt of the Tent which was to have its first fitting today.
Midsummer unveiling
Red treasure...
Hauling the beautiful red folds up to the roof wheel, the bones of the Red Tent were clothed in glorious and abundant red:
Wood Sisters sit back to admire the frame
Up she goes
It's a BIG tent...
Halfway
A perfect fit
The Red Tent
Red Tent incense
Linda had created a special Red Tent incense for the moment and we all entered the tent and stood awestruck by its simple majesty. It was a space waiting for magic and mystery to happen. It was high and spacious (beyond our dreams) and yet it created a feeling of cave-like, womb-like sanctuary. There was nothing that could really be said, we just drank it in.
Sunlit interior
Thanks to Linda who lent me her camera when my battery gave up and took some of these lovely photos herself. The next stage was to fit the cap:
Pulling the cap into place
Cap atop the canvas
Dee and Kay took the canvas away to finish and we took down the poles and oiled them with raw linseed oil and left it to soak in for a week.
Oiling the poles
There were many cameras clicking and some beautiful images emerged. The Red Tent has been born.
Interior with cap
It will be ready for the Quest Festival on 13th – 15th July and the Westcountry Storytelling Festival on 24 – 27 August (Early Bird tickets sales end at midnight on Saturday 30th June – so book now for discount tickets to a Bank Holiday weekend of magic including the Red Tent!).
The Red Tent
We’ve done it! There’s a little oiling to happen and some sewing to finish and door poles with guy ropes to arrange, but the main structure is solidly manifest and waiting for mystery to inhabit it.
Through the trees
A huge thank you to all those wood sisters (and brothers) who have given time to help craft this tent. I did a rough calculation and I think there are about 50 of us…a wonderful community effort, successfully realised and alive with potential…
Blessings
Next year we will turn our efforts to decorating the tent and making it comfortable, living in it and with it, to see what fits perfectly where.
Red, white and green
Saturday’s story at the Midsummer gathering was the story of the Red Tent, adapted from Anita Diamant’s best selling book and featuring the story of the Sumerian spider goddess Uttu, who brought the arts of spinning and weaving to the women of the world, through Enheduanna, priestess, princess and poet, who lived 3000 years BCE and is the first recorded author in all of written history. All of this is woven into the fabric of the Red Tent and, over the years, myth, meditation, nature and crafts will add their recurring mysteries to its shape.
The creation of The Red Tent