Friday, May 29, 2020

Under the Rainbow


Love, Bums and Drum Circles


Recently, I came upon an image,  (second to last at the bottom) of a group of naked men dancing in what appears to be a drum circle.  At first, I assumed it must have been taken during the sixties or seventies, but a closer look had me second guessing my initial assumption.  The image was so clear and  colors so vivid, even with editing, I wasn't sure it could have been as old as I assumed.


A quick image search gave me both the answer, and an interesting read.  In Vice Spain, writer Denis Vejas opened the door to Love, Bums and Drum Circles, and Modern-Day Hippie.  There are many variations of modern-day hippie gatherings, but the group in focus was The Rainbow Family Gatherings.


'The Rainbow Family is an anarchist, utopian, new age community that comes together during Rainbow Gatherings. The emphasis during those gatherings is on freedom and love. There is no entrance fee, no hierarchy and no actual organisation behind the gatherings'


The gatherings started in the early 70's, a few years after Woodstock.  They didn't start out to be huge events, initially it was a just a small group.  Over the years, they've grown and today can have as many 20,000 people in attendance.


It was surprisingly hard to find authentic images from the sixties.  I found tons of sites with images described as being from Woodstock or the sixties, but I often recognized the model (usually in dreads) and knew the shots were taken fairly recently.  The images included here span the sixties, seventies and beyond.   Instead of focusing on just one decade, I decided to just include some of my favorites.


'Let it fly in the breeze and get caught in the trees'


Woodstock 1969

Next 3 shots from Rebecca Rütten

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