I have heard from a lot of people that in 60s or 70s, there was this culture common. People doing LSDs, dancing, having strange aesthetics, entry of Eastern religions into West and all that spirituality and if I am not wrong, conservative institutions of that time in West like church, families, and etc. did not like that and were in opposition of that.

I have never met a person who used to be a hippy so I thought why not ask here. What made you a hippy? What was your parents’ reaction? How long did you remain a hippy? How was the experience?

  • susieq0044@sh.itjust.works
    30·
    1 day ago

    Hippy culture peaked in 1967–1969 (some say it ended with the 69 murder of Sharon Tate), so any true hippy would be >75 now, not sure how many 75yo are here on Lemmy, I only experienced the aftermath in the 70s, there weren’t many hippies left by then, and although hippy-dom had a large impact on 70s culture (and my upbringing), practicing hippies were, by then, a bit laughed at, stuck in time and “oldfashioned”.

    • BeBopALouie@lemmy.caEnglish
      8·
      15 hours ago

      I am very close to 70, my party time started in the 70’s When I was 13 and missed the true “hippie generation” with that being said the partying was wild. Tons of drugs, cannabis was crappy compared to today. We would get peyote and other drugs in cigarette packs (they were smuggled in that way). “Edit: there was tons of acid around, blotters, pills and liquid (usually Berkeley).” You had to be careful as the laws were just as bad for cannabis as it was for hard stuff (I live in Canada). There was no surveillance to speak of and got away with way too much. Sex was rampant since there was no aids reported on the early 70’s. I could skateboard all night on the streets without being harassed. Parents were from the silent generation and believed everything they were told by the government. We did not identify as hippies as that era had passed pretty much even if we dressed that way sometimes.

      • susieq0044@sh.itjust.works
        6·
        16 hours ago

        It was massive, because before the hippies came, western societies were bourgeois; narrowminded, conservative. OK, I grew up in Amsterdam and that town was back then very progressive. My parents became, during the 60s more open: people talked more freely about topics like atheism, civil rights, even green politics, they became independent from church, love and sex could be discussed more openly, the upbringing of children (=me!) became more open and less strict (eg teachers weren’t allowed to hit pupils), respect for the police dwindled , male socialist politicians suddenly wore jeans and had long hair, my father had hair down to his shoulders and my mother hotpants, my smoked pot during the breaks in school.