It´s Sunday, the last day of the INF Youth Rally 2008, and the weather is warm and sunny. Everyone has flocked to the lawns to suntan, naked obviously. There are young naturists,15 to 32 years old, from England, Austria, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Portugal, Mexico and me, the lone South African. There are slightly over 130 young people at this year’s rally, almost double the previous year. We are at a naturist campsite called De Vrije Vogels, a half-hour drive from Amsterdam in Holland.
What is naturism? I may hear you ask. The International Naturist Federation defines it as :
We have all been waiting for the weather to improve since the rally began on Wednesday. After all, this is a naturist rally and we want to be naked! Only a hardy handful were naked for the football and volleyball on Thursday and Friday, and everyone had to be naked for the massage workshop, but that was inside. Today is the first real opportunity.The Dutch are really getting into the free-spirited vibe. They are soaking each other with water balloons, mock wrestling and laughing hysterically. In the distance there are naked shapes playing shuttle ball and taking turns on the zip line.
So what do we do at a naturist youth rally? Well, the day begins differently to start with. We wake up at around 7:30 and make our way sleepily to the communal shower blocks, where there are no ´male´and ´female´demarcations. Yes, this means guys and girls shower together. The showers are one of the most social places at the rally and a great way to get to know other naturists while soaping up. Plus, when I step out of the shower and grab a towel there is no need to cover up. This takes a while to get used to!
For me, much of the five days is spent trying to get myself to accept that I am in fact naked, or, when the weather is bad, that I am in a context where nakedness is permitted. The Dutch youth have done a great job of organising this years rally. We are provided three meals a day in the ´Oranje Huis´, the ´Orange House´, which is the barn that has been converted into the dining hall, meeting place and disco. We are priviledged, Holland is a naturist mecca, one in eight Dutch people people regularly practice naturism and Holland has the most federated naturists in the world. In my interactions with the Dutch youth I really get the feeling that naturism is part of the fabric of their culture. Take Margo, a 25 year-old Dutch woman, for example : “for me its about freedom, when I go on holiday its always more relaxing to not wear clothes. I can get a better tan and its more comfortable and I feel closer to nature.”
There is nothing erotic about being naked amongst such a large group. Indeed the only time I have ‘wayward’ thoughts or feel anything nearing arousal is when on the last day when I am fully clothed and walking through the gates and waving goodbye to t
1 Comment
March 13, 2009 at 6:05 pm
The joys of being a naturist!!