The hippie movement was started in the 1960’s timeframe. Hippie derived from the terms hipster and hip. Hipster first referred to some beatniks who moved into the Haight-Ashbury region of San Francisco. They set up their own communities, indulged in the sexual revolution, listened to primarily psychedelic rock, and used drugs to expand their mind and conscious.
The Hippie Apperance
Hippies felt that by choosing their own ways and finding new meanings to life they were freeing themselves from the restrictions of society. One form of independent expression was dressing differently from the societal norms. Hippies saw the way they dressed as a symbol of respect for individual rights, and it made it easier for them to identify each other.
Hippies both of the male and female gender generally wore jeans and had long hair. Both genders also primarily wore sandals or no shoes at all. The men were often bearded, and the women wore little, if any, makeup and did not wear bras. Hippies made most of their clothes such as tie-dyed shirts. Clothing they did not make themselves they normally bought from flea markets and second-hand shops. Hippies were also known for wearing beaded necklaces, headbands, and Native American jewelry.
The Hippie Code Of Transportation
Hippies primarily traveled by hitchhiking and driving school busses or VW busses. They were known for painting their busses with psychedelic art. Hippies liked to travel in busses because they could take a lot of their friends with them when they traveled. A lot of hippies changed the Volkswagen symbol on VW busses to peace symbols. Some hippies preferred hitchhiking because they saw it as a way to meet new people, plus it was environmentally friendly, and economical.
Hippies indulged in drugs and hallucinogens. They felt that by doing drugs it allowed them to open their mind and spirit. Most hippies smoked cannabis, or marijuana. Before long hippies began taking hallucinogens such as LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline. Some hippies even took amphetamines and opiates. Most hippies, including the ones that used them, saw amphetamines and opiates as harmful and addictive so they began to scorn them.
Hippies believed in peace and pacifistic ideals. Large groups of hippies participated in non-violent political demonstrations. Hippies went to civil rights marches, performed protests, held anti-Vietnam War demonstrations, and burned draft cards. There were peace demonstration hippies and there were also hippies that preferred anti-authority and street theater demonstrations. The back to land movement, alternative energy, cooperative business enterprises, free press movement, and organic farming were a few political movements that hippies participated in.
Hippies are still around in today’s modern world. People and hippies alike carry on protests and anti-war parades. Festivals that originated in the hippie era are still held to this day. The Burning Man and the Starwood Festival are two of the biggest hippie festivals and are still around. Fashions started by hippies in the 1960’s can still be seen being worn in this day and age. Hippie lifestyle and culture has been around for generations and continues to live on years later.