Shakers

        I only know a little about the Shakers, it that little might be a bit off, but here goes:

        The Shakers got their name from the 'sacred dance'. During communal prayer meetings (held nightly?) shakers would occasionally be taken by a sort of religeous frenzy/ecstacy, and start 'dancing'. The word dance is used loosely, as the dancer usually just twisted and gyrated in the center of the room. Outsiders who saw this dubbed the people 'Shakers', what they actually called themselves I don't know.

        Shakers believed in full sexual equality. This led them to ban marriage, which was viewed as oppessive to women. I believe the Shakers gave up on sexual relations, as it was wrong without being married, (but I am on weak ground here). Shakers then adopted unwanted/orphaned children into their communes. Members were trained to whatever tasks they liked/were capable of. So there were male cooks and female carpenters, etc.

        I hope this helps.

                Andrew Joelson

PS Orlanth-Cola, official sponsor of Glorantha Con IV!

	 Rosemont, Illinois   Jan 24-26, 1997
	Orlanth-Cola, a real Windy City drink!

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