Preparations took weeks and the excitement grew as the day approached, more and more trips between the valleys started to happen and a sense of belonging started to appear between the two family groups. The day was wonderful, everyone in both of the valleys was involved, taking part, the midday meal was in the open air, makeshift tables covered with white linen cloth, weighed down with food and drink filled the street outside our house. Children played, people danced, music and merriment were everywhere. The festivities carried on throughout the day and into the evening, musicians arrived and we all moved into the largest building in the village for more dancing and celebration. For me this was a wonderful time that made a deep impression in my life, it somehow sowed a seed, a seed that would grow with me and shape my life.

Later when I had grown up this memory among others from my life in the valley started me on a journey to understand how small groups of people living in isolated areas of the world could live their lives in a simple but wonderful way.

Tribal peoples can be found all over the world, hints of their past litter the landscape and are hidden in our earth. Modern tribal peoples still live in isolated areas of our world and still follow the traditions and lifestyles of their ancestors.

Most of humanity's history has been lived out as hunter/gatherers, it has only been in comparatively recent times that we have settled down and established ourselves as an agricultural people living in ever growing densely populated cities. Our hunter/gatherer tribal ancestors lived in small highly mobile and adaptable communities, much more able to deal with the changing cycles of life.

Our scientists have put forward many and varied reasons for hunter/gatherers settling down, natural understanding and development of the maize grain, climate change, growing populations in tribes, the need for alcohol, are just a few.

The most likely reason or combinations of reasons for settling down are the development of efficient tools and the understanding of crop cycles and the domestication of animals.

Around ten thousand years ago tribal peoples began to domesticate animals and herd them. The first animals to be domesticated by humans were dogs, dogs are very useful creatures, they are excellent alarm systems, helpful in large hunting trips, and fun to have around. The earliest known agricultural settlements have been found around the Nile delta, the delta being one of the first regions of the world to benefit from the receding ice age.

Why should we care about tribal peoples?

Tribal people can show us alternative ways to living in our world of excessive progress. Progress is an idea that has indoctrinated people all over the world, bringing with it the concept that big equals best. Humanity controls the world, new is good, old is bad. Progress has brought us big sprawling anonymous cities, pollution beyond our wildest dreams, climate change, and dissatisfaction with our lives. Poverty and starvation are common amongst our people, some of which will never benefit from any of our advancing technologies.

Tribal people have skills, languages, history, tales and an understanding of the world that allows them to live simple sustainable lives in harmony with the world. They are survivalists with the ability to live off the land, they understand plants, water systems, animal migration patterns and can live well in very inhospitable places. They have much to teach us in our troubled world.

I was born into a world of plenty, a world where technology had all the answers, today the news is full of warnings about our world and its resources, resources as basic as water, air, food, and the suffering of our people. We live in a world where most of our children cannot feed themselves without the help of the supermarket.

For most of my life I have been fascinated by ancient cultures, tribal peoples and the ways in which they live life cooperating with nature. I have always admired they way they see the world and respect it as a living energy providing for us. Perhaps it is my upbringing in a small community in the valleys of south Wales or my research into the mystical ways of tribal peoples that has encouraged me to learn about this kind of sustainable living. Or perhaps it was the camaraderie, friendship and community spirit at the wedding of my childhood that has left me with a longing for a simple life.