What is Hippie
Hippe: One who is aware. They believe in anti-war and try to lead a sustainable and alternative lifestyle away from capitalist society.
Hippies aimed to live under loving compassion, personal freedom and peace. They thought all mainstream lifestyle in society was too conformative and bound by the establishd power.
They rejected the social structure of society and the social values of the middle class.
Often, Hippies were environmentally friendly, vegetarian and used drugs to experience a different consciousness. Hippie Philosophy supports spiritual teachings such as the Buddha,
Places that Hippie culture influenced were UK, Europe, Canada Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Japan.
They believe in sexual freedom, they considered as sex outside marriage the use of contraception, homosexual relationships and abortion rights as being social acceptable.
Origins of Hippie
- 1896-1908 WanderVogel in Germany, youth movement
- Rejected urbanism and moved back with living spiritually with nature
- Counter culture against mainstream German folk music and social clubs
- Was about amateur music and singing, living outside, camping and hiking in the community.
- The Wandervogel lifestyle spreaded to mainstream culture. They believed in sustainability by growing your own vegetables and opening health shops.
- A song “ nature boy” written by Eden Ahbez encouraged organic food, good health and Yoga in the united states
Fashion
Hippies typically had long hair, boots and native American clothing. It usually emphasised flowery designs and pscedelliac patterns.
Hippie Events
- 1967 Human be in san Francisco’s Golden Gate Park
- 1677 Central Park be in in Manhattan
- 1967 Monterey pop Festival (leading to summer of love)
- 1963 Aquuarius Festival in Australia
- 1973 MardiGrass Piedra Roja Festival
- 1967 Summer of love
Hippie Psychedelic music
Psychedelic was a form of rock music that often used repeatitive electronic sounds and would often enhance the effects of drugs such as LSD. These recreational drugs were a part of the Hippie Culture before it got banned in October 1966) At the time, many students and medical professionals believed it allowed them to explore new states of consciousness.
Notable Psychedelic musicians are: Pink Floyd, Jimmi Hendrix and The Beatles.
In the summer of 1965, Chandler A.Laughlin established the music event “the red Dog Experience”. Performers included the Jerrersib Airplan, Iron butterfly and the Greatful dead. Both the lighting and the music enhanced the europhic effects of LSD. The performers and audience often merged together as one to give a sense of community. Other countries were inspired when participants of “the red Dog Experience” went back to San Francisco and shared Hippie ideals.
This led to the first Psydeliac Rock show in San Franisco called the “family dog” hosted by participants Ellen Harman, Alton Kelley and Luria Castell. Similarly, they had dance performances, a light show and Pyschedelic musicans playing such as The Marbles, The Great society and Jefferson Airplane. These were very popular as over 1000 people attended. After the success of 3 shows, a festival was launched known as “Trips festival” The event was oversold, 10,000 tickets were sold while every night 1000 more people were refused tickets.
Followed by this on January 22nd, the “Grateful Dead” and “big brother and holding company” performed among 6,000 people. It was seen as “the greatest light show” by some.
Summer of Love
The Hippie culture reached its height during the Summer of love 1967. When the media advertised this event at Haights, a substantial amount of people flocked to this social phenonal. (Much like the equalivant of a viral online trend)
It appealed to many people as much as 100,000 people from all around the world. Their philosophy was to:
“Do your own thing, wherever you have to do it and whenever you want. Drop out. Leave society as you have known it. Leave it utterly. Blow the mind of every straight person you can reach. Turn them on, if not to drugs, then to beauty, love, honesty, fun”
–July 17th Times Magazine, The Philosophy of a subculture.
They believed in living under peace and love, but some people accused them as jobless, drug addicts with unconstrained ideologies.
A theatre group known as the “diggers” in 1966 offered giving out free food, money, music tickets and drugs. Hippie was about community sharing and living alternate lifestyles.
The Summer of Love was mentioned in the lyrics in a famous Hippie song called “San Francisco” by Scot Mckenzie.
