Festival Culture Pt. 1 - PLUR <3

On this first series post about festival culture, I’m digging in to the amazing values and community the rave world has to offer. PLUR is a term and set of principles that have been present in the rave scene since the early 90s. In case you’ve never heard of it, PLUR stands for Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. Consider it the “raver manifesto”.

The rave scene is an inviting place for people from all different walks of life, especially including any “misfits”. Through the ideals of PLUR, ravers are guided to be open and accepting of everyone, while sharing in their love of the music.

Peace

At a rave, everyone should be there for the same reason, which is to enjoy the music and the experience. This is not the place for negative emotions and conflict! You can also find peace in situations that might otherwise be frustrating by having a go-with-the-flow attitude all night long.

Love

No hidden message here! Spread love and nothing else to the people around you. You’ll see a lot of ravers giving out hugs or doing other small acts of kindness.

Unity

Everyone in this community is sharing these experiences together. It can almost be overwhelming to think about being a part of something “bigger than yourself”, but every event is an opportunity for unity among a crowd.

Respect

Respect is the fnal summation of the last three values. Without respect, you can’t have any of these things. Respect others, but also yourself and the space/venue hosting you!

Nothing about the PLUR community is exclusive, but one of my friends, Nick, has become especially involved with the group in the last year, even attending all the “House of PLUR” meetups at events! I asked him to tell me about what PLUR meant to him, and he sent me a very emotional and heartwarming response:

“To me, PLUR is about the mindset of acceptance of others’ differences and using everyone’s differences to find out how we are similar. In that, through being so different in many ways, we all come together to appreciate and love this music, but also to love and accept each other. Because raves are an escape for the odd one out in regular life, so when coming to a rave a lot of people are usually introverts but once inside the rave become extroverted and just mesh with everyone and everything around them.”

Nick also made an important note about an extra letter R added to the end of the acronym, standing for responsibility. Along with the rest of the PLUR principles, community members should feel responsible for other people’s safety and wellness, even if they don’t know them. Kind of a “see something, say something” concept. Nick added, “You see someone on the ground, you go and make sure they’re ok and have water, you fan people, or through some way use your positive energy to pay it forward with a kindness that will feed the flame of PLUR. It’s an unconditional love and acceptance of those around you.”

Each letter of PLUR pairs to its own hand motion, which is another important way ravers can connect with each other. Those colorful, beaded bracelets you see on people’s wrists are more than just for show; using the PLUR handshake, ravers connect and share these bracelets (actually called Kandi!) with each other. These are basically always handmade and carry a small message on them, which makes for a meaningful exchange. Aside from the bracelets, people also make things like perlers and cuffs to exchange. The handshake goes as follows:

Peace - you and a partner make a peace sign with your fingers touching each other’s

Love - make half a heart, to complete a full heart together

Unity - place your hands against each other, palms together

Respect - interlock your fingers

Then trade the kandi over your joined hands from one wrist to the other! Another unwritten rule to this exchange is to hug afterward in light of such a positive moment.

Next time you go to a rave, take notice of the community of people around you! These settings are really unique places to see and experience genuine kindness and connection between strangers. Quite often, I find that I can go up to anyone and strike up a conversation, compliment their outfit, etc., and have it be completely welcomed. Festivals are always fun, but it is this culture and community that really make the rave world extra special.