Official Document
This page presents an official governing document of Campfire Park.
Promethean Proclamation
Foundation Document of Campfire Park
We hold these flames to be self-evident: that all gatherings are kindled by a common spark, that from the circle of fire arises memory, fellowship, and the measure of Man.
That whenever the flame is smothered by greed, distraction, or neglect, it is the right of the People to rekindle it — to restore it to its rightful place at the center of the circle — and to return thereby to the practices of listening, remembering, and rejoicing.
That to secure these ends, movements are instituted among Men, deriving their warmth and their light from the consent of both the living and the departed — whose rumor of return yet stirs the embers — whether spoken by the griot beneath the baobab, traced along a winter croft, or carried quietly across open pampa.
And that whenever any age or invention becomes destructive of these ends, it is the solemn duty of the People to alter or abolish it, as circumstance and conscience may allow, and to lay again the stones of the hearth, providing for future generations the glow of fire unmediated, unmastered, and unforgotten — even where katabatic winds scour warmth from stone and silence reigns supreme.
mythic-narrative Mythic Narrative
Thus spake Prometheus:
Lo, in the days of yore, when countless moons had waxed and waned, the forebears of Men did huddle in shadow and uneasy slumber. They circled in darkness, grunting and casting bones about the dim hollow ring, as beasts without flame or light.
And the heavens, as in the First Beginning, brake forth in tumult, and the waters covered the face of the Earth. The tribe that once was — now departed into dust and memory, yet whispered of in rumor to return — beheld with awe and terror the Great Rumble-Crack, which shook the firmament and made the ground to tremble from selva to steppe.
And there remained a glow — yea, a crackling fire — as though the Spirit moved upon the face of the deep. The forebearer trembled in fear, save for one Mighty Soul who stepped forward into the heat and seized the spark.
For a moment, the world stopped — everything and nothing. He stretched forth his hand and lifted the flame aloft, and his wild eyes shone with divine light, mirrored and bent as in the dawn of Creation, traced like a songline across the dark.
And thus spake Prometheus, and spoke no further.
And so it was: The Light, the Flame, the Crackling sent them to Triumph — them forgetting that the light is the master, not they that master the light. And so it be that now, unlike before, unlike as was meant to be, Man has quenched the flame through his own folly. The Spark became all-consuming.
But let it be said: the fire yet calls.
And the call is this — to return the Flame to its original place.
the-charge The Charge
To restore people to the practices, skills, and common hours known before the demands of the Modern Times — and to keep what was worthy alive without sentiment or refusal.
To this end, the People may use all means of expression and conveyance to spread the word, including, among others, speaking trumpet, paper, handbill, broadside, billboard, telegraph, local theatre, busking, song, sutra, and rotary phone, and such other means as may later be claimed or contested.
the-undertaking The Undertaking
To tend and keep Campfire Park as a living commons, wherein people may gather, try, dispute, and share in its care.
the-maxims The Maxims:
- Go first in deed.
- Let action answer speech.
- Take delight in craft and contrivance.
- Rule of the Ninja
affirmation Affirmation
Therefore, in recognition of the primal flame and its enduring necessity, be it enacted by the assembled and unassembled, by those present and those absent, by the known and the rumored to return, that the Promethean Proclamation shall be observed in perpetuity — subject to interpretation, amendment, and the reasonable exercise of powers not herein enumerated but implied by the very existence of fire itself.
And further, that such rights and responsibilities as pertain to the tending of flame, the gathering of circle, and the remembrance of tribe shall be vested in the People, jointly and severally, without prejudice to future generations, unless otherwise provided by law, custom, quiet hearth-practice, or the silent consent of the departed.