Two friends of a friend were visiting from Switzerland and wanted to see the "real" Ukraine. And to go a place that we could drive to in a day. Luckily, about 4 hours from Kyiv is an annual folk festival that has been growing in popularity and sophistication over the past few years. The festival itself is less than 5 years old, but has gained a national reputation in Ukraine. I expected a somewhat larger version of what I have seen many times at Ukrainian folk museums and holidays. There was certainly that element represented here. Many people were dressed in at least the traditional Ukrainian shirt, a "sorochka," and many had the full outfit or dress going. What I did not expect was the large number of young people who were somewhat dressed up in traditional folk clothes and somewhat resembling American hippies. And by American hippies I am referring to the recent generation of "hippies" which, at least in America, have much less of a political ideology and much more of a "lets go get wasted and walk around in clothes that should have been washed two weeks ago" thing going on. After conducting half a day of extensive ethnological research, I've determined that American modern hippies and Ukrainian "hippies" share some things in common.
1) Long dresses on women. Long dresses on Ukrainian women were common for hundreds of years, but based on the past 20 years of the uber-mini-skirt that barely hides a girl's ass here, you'd think the long dress would have completely gone out of style. Not so. These back-to-basics Ukrainian hippie chicks are bringing back the long dress as a fashion statement. I am conflicted, obviously, about what to think of this.
2) Barefeet. You cant pretend to be any kind of hippie without walking around at least part of the day without shoes and socks. End of story.
3) Drugs/alcohol. Although, based on the lack of weed vapors circulating around the Ukrainian hippie fest, as is the norm at American hippie fests, it's clear that at least a sizeable portion of the young Ukrainian hippies had been either consuming some illegal substances and/or drinking heavily since breakfast. If they had breakfast at all. And if they did, it probably consisted of two sausages and several pieces of black bread with some ketchup. Followed by a beer.
4) Pieces of nature and string and crap in your hair. To become one with nature, one must put flowers, weeds, and pieces of string, ideally stained with natural dyes such as dandelion juice, in one's hair.
5) The "hippie shake". The legendary hippie shake originated in the early 60s in response to the unrelenting onslaught of rock n' roll music. In the late 60s the hippie shake was perfected into the uncoordinated flopping, undulating of one's body in response to electric guitar and the influence of eight beers, three hits off a joint, and a couple hits of acid. The modern "hippie shake" shares not only its substance-fueled component with the older generation, but also its complete lack of rhythm or purpose. This can also be plainly attributed to the demographic most often represented at hippie festivals...the spoiled white, middle to upper-middle class brat. No rhythm, just the desire to escape into the "moment."
And certainly, the Ukrainian hippie festival was composed of 99.99% white people. The only person of color, if you don't count the Georgians who performed, was the guy from Senegal who now lives in Paris who performed at 9 PM. Surprisingly, this guy sucked. Nevertheless, true to the hippie spirit everywhere, no one seemed to mind the general suckiness of that particular performance. Conga lines, wedding procession dances, and great mobs of hipper shakers took over the field in front of the stage. Quite a spectacle.
Overall, I will give the organizers and the Ukrainian hippies their due. Their main message, at least from what I have heard from conversations and others, is their desire to champion their agrarian Ukrainian heritage, before it was spoiled by industry, commercialization, and other sucky developments. Living more simply, eating local and natural foods, and celebrating nature and music and dance arent bad things to be doing. Molotsi.
