Lys Wild
It was funny to realise that considering I have been going to Pilton aka Glastonbury festival since I was 22, I have very few photos. The illusionary world that is the festival, set up year after year only to disappear again in a few short weeks, has it seems stayed firmly in my memories and not my photo collection.
On one year very early on, I somehow managed to walk through the gate without a ticket, to this day I have no idea how I managed it. Somehow I seemed to become invisible to the security. But then such is the magic of the story at the festival. Another year I climbed over the fence with my friend who firmly believed a bin liner, gaffa tap and a bit of string were all she needed to survive there. I think she had a good time! In fact, that was the year the fence came down and the festival was utterly packed. I remember feeling like a sardine in a tin every time I ventured out and not going beyond the railway track into so called Babylon beyond. Another year I dressed up as a gypsy and sold hash flapjacks in the stone circle, and got the recipe wrong though, they were far too strong, it all turned into a bit of a disaster. Then there was the vodka jelly year! That was hilarious, with my friend Seano using his inimitable Irish charm to make a mini fortune.
In the early years I was also a part of the whirly gig crew and helped set up and run the show, camping was at that time rough and ready and very hedonistic. I had by that time become more of a purist and would head up to the healing field to do some yoga each day. On one particular morning I arrived at the yoga tent only to find that the teacher hadn’t showed up. A group of people were gathered and chatting about what to do. I had a daily yoga practice of about 2 or 3 years and so I offered to run through the sun salutation that I did each morning. I was a bit nervous, but it seemed to go ok and I had fun. As I was leaving, a man came up to me and introduced himself as Jacob. Turns out he ran the field. He said I could come there and teach yoga the next year. He put me in touch with Wendy Teasdil and so the healing field became my Pilton home and has been ever since.
Each year I go now, I set up my bell tent equipt with burner in the air circle in the healing field and offer shiatsu and yoga, it’s such a great place to be at the festival and I have had some wonderful times in that field. My most enduring memory though, aside from the amazing bands, circus performances and general shenanigans was from the year that Michael Eavis lost his wife. I went out on the Saturday night with my then boyfriend who was a djembe drummer to dance around a fire to the drumming group that had congregated in the field that used to be the tipi field adjacent to Undle ground. I was the only dancer that night and as they drummed I got lost in my dance to the fire. I guess everyone else was out at the big stages, it was quiet on the field aside from the thump of the drums behind me. At one point I looked up and saw a man put a chair just in the shadows and sit to watch us. The drumming concluded and off we went. The next day I was doing some yoga in the craft field, in a standing wide leg forward fold pose. I was looking at people from my upside down perspective and noting how many of them seemed grounded, when I spotted a man walking so gently and fluidly on the ground. He seemed to sink into the earth with every step, contemplative and kind in his manner and look. I stood up out of the pose and turned away, the next thing I know the same man had come up to me. He took my hand and said, ‘your dancing last night really gave me some peace. You are always welcome at this festival, thank you for what you bring’ I was speechless and open mouthed and a little confused, until a friend touched me on the shoulder and said ‘that was Michael Eavis, he lost his wife this year.’ What a blessing.
You see Glastonbury festival is so much more than the hedonistic beast that it’s been listed as. Sure it has that potential and there are elements of this crazy side but each year has brought me the most amazing gifts and blessings. Its set me on my yoga teaching path, given me a space to develop my shiatsu. Somewhere that you can watch a group of African acrobats create a human pyramid, see the most incredible music and be blessed by the Dalai Lama all in one day. It’s a place that the wider alternative community comes together to connect and be inspiring. And mainstream people can find something life changing. Youngsters can discover their individuality. People can find profound healing, or love or new friends. The magical illusionary city in the fields that is Glastonbury is a very special place to me and to many others.
Lys Wild, 15th May 2020, Glastonbury, UK
