Where are hippies from?

Where does the word hippie come from, just from the word hip meaning cool or is it longer than that? Where do hippies come from? Who was the first hippie? What do you have to believe to be a hippy, what do you have to do?

 

I dont know about the other stuff...but Jesus was the first hippie.

 

to qoute a famous musician, if you have to ask, youll never know

 

some years ago an old freind of mine who certainly was hip, told me that he'd read that 'hip' originally referred to a sore hip occaisioned in certain Chinamen of the 19th century whose custom it was to lie on one side whilst smoking opium (kicking buddha's gong) for long periods of time.

For all I know, this may be right.

But it may be bullshit. An interesting one though.

 

Oh wow am I glad you asked that question...

We are stardust,
We are golden,
and all us hippes,

are trying to get back to the garden,

Peace, love, and harmony

X X X

 

I think it came from "Hep" as in, "He's a hep cat". Then it turned to "hip". I think it's like quickly. The act of being hip is being a hippie. or Hippy
I dont know what the hell I'm talking about. I think there is a thread on this already anyways.

 

ah....yes...that is what I was going to say!

 

WASHINGTON, DC--The indigenous North American hippie population has expanded to the point that its teeming herds are endangering the planet's fragile freakosystem, warned a Department of the Interior report released Monday.

According to the report, over the past 20 years, the wide-ranging, largely migratory hippies have more than tripled in population, insidiously infiltrating nearly every other U.S. subculture while venturing far beyond their natural Vermont and Colorado habitats.

"Due to the species' lack of predators, willingness to live almost anywhere and rabbit-like breeding habits, the hippie has become the most prevalent feature on the American countercultural landscape," Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt said. "If we do not soon find a way to thin their herds, they will overwhelm every other subculture on the continent, potentially leading to freakological disaster on a mass global scale."

Experts say the hippie-related environmental damage has largely been the result of their sheer numbers. Long regarded as a mere nuisance species, the hippies have grown over the past 10 years into one of the most populous in North America, numbering close to 20 million. Further, because of the hippie herds' normal daily cycle of waking, bongo- playing and large-scale grass consumption, followed by a brief period of torpor and then aggressive nutritive replenishment, their freakological impact is enormous.

"Each summer, the hippie herds migrate north to Boulder, wiping out 80 to 90 percent of the hummus supply of the regions through which they pass," National Park Service director Roger Kennedy said. "In certain parts of Colorado, by mid- August, the patchouli reservoirs are entirely drained."

The burgeoning herds--identifiable by their dread-locked hair, hemp jewelry and distinctive tie-dyed markings--have greatly affected the quality of life of people living in these areas of high hippie concentration.

"They're everywhere," said Linda Hewson of Albany, NY. "Last night, when I went to take out the trash, I found one of them foraging through my garbage cans for Dead bootlegs. I shooed it away, but a bunch more came by later scavenging for discarded twirling sticks."

"My property is overrun with them," said Vallejo, CA, resident Patrick Davis, who said he is considering moving if the problem gets worse.

"They even set up a bead-vending stand in my backyard."

First introduced into the cultural landscape in the early 1960s, the hippie, or homo habilis VWbus, was initially applauded by freakologists, who believed they would be beneficial in curbing the growth of the then-ubiquitous Establishment Type. When the crisis passed in the early 1970s, the hippie population was reduced to a fraction of its former size, creating room in the American freakosystem for numerous other subcultures, including punks, new-wavers and goths. Social developments of recent years, however, have caused the hippies' numbers to balloon once more.

"For some time, it was believed that the extinction of Jerry Garcia and the dispersal of The Grateful Dead would have a suppressive effect on the size of the hippie population," Kennedy said. "Surprisingly, though, exactly the opposite has happened: The herds have grown, diversifying and spreading out.

In the past, if the Dead were playing in Chicago, the entire hippie species would be singularly concentrated there. But today, you could have a herd of hippies at Red Rocks to see Phish while, at the very same moment, an equally large herd is massing in Ann Arbor for a Widespread Panic show."

Another reason for the hippie explosion, environmentalists say, lies in the differences between the current crop and the more mature, "old-growth" hippies of the 1960s. While old-growth hippies were a gentle species that was considered a mild annoyance at worst, the new breed, they say, is a hardier, more insidious creature which seems to thrive in virtually any environment.

"We're seeing these young hippies in the malls, in fraternities, on Madison Avenue--all kinds of places where hippies were once considered non- indigenous," said Alfred Meijer of the Nature Conservancy. "Years of cross-breeding and exposure to television have produced a hybridized, consumer-culture-bred hippie that can adapt to literally any environment, countercultural or mainstream. And unlike the old-growth hippies, which at least were anti-materialistic, the new ones are voracious consumers, swiftly depleting their habitat of all resources and purchasable goods."

Though most experts agree that the vast herds must be thinned, they are divided on how to go about it. Some are calling for the hippies to be spayed and neutered and then placed in designated preserve areas, where they would be free to roam peacefully and play hacky-sack. Others suggest more extreme measures, advocating the use of large, headshop-shaped traps to lure the hippies. Once inside the traps, the hippies would be poisoned with super- adhesive, cyanide-laced Guatemalan blankets and sweaters.

"Whatever we do, we must do it soon," Babbitt said. "If we don't, we are dooming our children to live in a world overrun with backless apron dresses and bare feet. And that is a fate we can ill afford."

 

well by definition a hippie is just an outcast, therefore making many more hippies than are thought, but the hippie culture we believe in is just a state of mind (MAYBE sprug from the Indians, and passed down, until the beatnik generation, and then transformed into the hippies of the 60's and 70's)

it had to be the indians, they didnt like the government of the white man, they liked their herbs, they held nature in revernce, and were generally peaceful people(until they fought)



it just makes sense

 

i think i answered this in another thread somewhere. or this is major deja vu. whatever. so i did a report for my sociology class on the hippie culture and this is what i wrote (sorry its long):

From Hip to YIP: The American Counterculture
​

The decade that changed the United States the most was the 1960’s. It brought about civil rights, women’s rights, the 26th amendment, and so much more. Much of this was to due to the counterculture. The most well-known title for most of these radicals is hippie. It is a common term, but one must ask what exactly makes a hippie a hippie and where they come from.

There has never been an official rule on what a hippie is exactly, but many definitions have conjured up throughout the past few decades. Webster’s dictionary defines it as “any of the young people of the 1960’s who, in their alienation from conventional society, have turned variously to mysticism, psychedelic drugs, communal living, experimental arts, etc.” But this definition only provides one viewpoint. There are several different ones. Some of the most widely accepted definitions are best stated by Lisa Law, Larry Caffo, and Skip Stone. Law says it is a lifestyle involving “peace, love harmony, music, mysticism, and religions outside the Judeo-Christian tradition. Meditation, yoga, and psychedelic drugs were embraced as routes to expanding one’s consciousness” and having “a willingness to challenge authority, greater social tolerance, the sense that politics is personal, environmental awareness, and changes in attitudes about gender roles, marriage, and child rearing”. Stone has a similar view and states, “Being a hippie is not a matter of dress, behavior, economic status, or social milieu. It is a philosophical approach to life that emphasizes freedom, peace, love, and a respect for others and the earth”. Probably the most common viewpoint is held by Caffo, who played with The 13th Floor Elevators and occasionally with Janis Joplin. He says a hippie was any person who smoked marijuana and took LSD.

While the definition of “hippie” is uncertain, its origins are practically unknown. It is thought to have been originated in Harlem, New York. In Malcolm X’s autobiography he discussed being seventeen in 1939 and observing “A few of the white men around Harlem, younger ones whom we called ‘hippies,’ acted more Negro than the Negroes”. The more publicized use of the word was first applied in September of 1965 by the San Francisco writer Michael Fallon.

The lifestyle hippies led predates the term. The group evolved from ancient times, some even say as far back as Julius Ceasar and Jesus Christ. But the beginning of the modern hippie began in Germany near the end of the nineteenth century. Many youth movements were formed in reaction to a more industrialized, technocratic society. Adolf Just opened a retreat in 1896 that inspired Gandhi to begin a Nature Cure sanitarium in India. Just spoke against pollution, meat, traditional education, and many other things. These were just a few of the social trends termed as “Lebensreform” (life reform). Others included nudism, natural medicine, commune movement, sexual reform, and liberty for women, children and animals.

In Ascona, Switzerland, counterculture resurgence started in 1900 and lasted twenty years. Some of their approaches to life were surrealism, pacifism, Paganism, and dada. Many famous people, who inspired the hippies, went to Ascona. Hermann Hesse, D.H. Lawrence, and Carl Jung were just a few. In 1903, a San Francisco newspaper ran an article telling about the people and thinking of Ascona. This was one of the first times California was exposed to the European counterculture.

Also at this same time, several thousands of Germans moved to America because of the domineering political powers taking over their country- ones that led them into both World Wars. America has always been a melting pot and the Germans melted right in. They brought in their suitcases their radical views of life and their imaginings of what America could be.

Closer to the Age of Aquarius, was the Nature Boys. This was during the 1940’s. They were Americans who had taken up the Lebensreform lifestyle and were living mostly in the Southern California mountain ranges. They slept in caves and trees. They ate natural foods, such as fig, which was how they got their “high,” in opposition to the illegal drugs used by the hippies of the sixties.

One of the most known Nature Boys was Gypsy Boots. He lived in Tahquitz Canyon with the other boys until his marriage in 1953. Five years later, he opened a health food store in Hollywood and became a health teacher. He became such a well known figure that he was a guest over 25 times on the Steve Allen show. He also performed at the Monterey and Newport Pop festivals in the late 1960’s alongside groups like The Grateful Dead and The Jefferson Airplane.

Boots and the rest of the Nature Boys were an inspiration to many through more than their relaxed way of living; they started a trend in fashion. Though The Beatles’s haircut is known as having been obscene, it was domestic compared to les known bands from Southern California, like The Seeds. They wore their hair down to their shoulders from the influence of the Nature Boys. Jimi Hendrix and The Doors, two of the most idolized music producers of the flower child era, both were fans of The Seeds.

On the east coast at the same time were the beatniks. Men like Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, and Alan Ginsberg could be found in New York City. Beatniks celebrated the arts in free form. Such inspirational writings as On The Road, Dharma Bums, and “The Howl” were read by many hippies. Alan Ginsberg even took place in the San Francisco Be-In, anti-war protests, and the demonstrations in Chicago during the Democratic National Convention in 1968.

Acid started becoming common in the early 1960’s. Harvard professors Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzer, and Richard Alpert (Ram Dass) studied the drug and almost instantly found a correlation between it and the German scientists, writers, and artists of the Lebensreform era. These professors made books like “Steppenwolf” popular to read among the rising hippie culture. They also wrote their own book called “The Psychedelic Experience,” which became known as the hippie’s “bible”.

In general, the hippies of the 1960’s were a-political. The innumerable protests and demonstrations were held by such groups as the Black Panthers, Students for a Democratic Society and the Weathermen. In 1968, Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin coined the name Yippie or also called the Youth International Party. This was originally for the flower children going to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that year. They did such high jinks as trying to run a pig for President. This ended in the Chicago Seven Conspiracy Trial accusing the Yippies and the others involved for trying to incite riots.

The Yippies outlasted the election year and became the “political party” of hippies. They never were a registered party or took a traditional platform, but still existed. There were common stands of pro-drugs, anti-war, pro-sex, and environmentalism throughout the group, for they were hippies after all. Their core beliefs were in absolute freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Their group outlasted many of the fellow radical groups, but became weaker when Abbie Hoffman went underground for drug charges in the 1970’s.

Much do to the media, people see the hippies as a group from the 1960’s that no longer exist. This is not so. Being a hippie is a lifestyle choice that was made before the 1960’s and is still made by many today. According to Aron “Pieman” Kay, who famously threw a pie in Richard Nixon’s face, the hippies “are still everywhere- whether it be the streets of Haight, the Rainbow gatherings, the web or just when I least expect it, I will meet an old timer on a New York City subway.” Furthermore, another hippie from the 1960’s added, “Protests are still going on for more or less the same things. And as far as clothing, there is still the Salvation Army clothing store. About the only major changes here are satellite TV, microwaves, and the computer”. Hippies are more than a part of a counterculture movement, they are a recurrent subculture.

All in all what being a hippie means was best stated by Abbie Hoffman when he said:

“We are here to make a better world. No amount of rationalization or blaming can preempt the moment of choice each of us brings to our situation here on this planet. The lesson of the 60’s is that people who cared enough to do right could change history… The big battles that we won cannot be reversed. We were young, self-righteous, reckless, hypocritical, brave, silly, headstrong, and scared half to death. And we were right”.

 

On the word 'hippy', I've read that it comes from an African language -
several of their words were common in harlem and spread out thru the jazz community in the 30s-40s - it means 'he who can see' (roughly), meaning one who is enlightened.

I got the info from 'Waiting for the man', a book about drugs & music - a pretty interesting read as well.

 

check this out


http://www.unpopular.demon.co.uk/lpa/words/hippies.html

 

In the fifties jazzy cool people used to say 'hip', and 'hip' became a term for trendy folk. Hippies were called such as a sarcastic, disparaging remark or so I hear, by the media people who were still oh so fifities at the time.

 

uhhh most hippies dont belive in Jesus and it is crazey to say he was a hippey.. why? because he said love your neighbors.... and the hate of Isreal obviously shows that... he also was a Jew w/ Hippies often hate.. But not all hippies hate Isreal.. they just want them to die.....

thats true.. hippie was origionaly an insult.. but somehow people desided doing drugs and protesting America is a good thing...

 

which hippies hate jews...i dont know of any...

i concider my self a hippy and i dont do drugs or protest america(in general)

 

ummm.. there's a lot of famous hippies who are jews. abbie hoffman, jerry rubin, paul krassner... the list just keeps going. hippies aren't nazis. hippies hate pigs (cops, govt. figures), thats about it. and the fact that jews don't eat pigs is not related.

 

That was very good, you did your homework and I am impressed. I don't think you left anything out. In the 60's we didn't have the internet. Today's hippies have an advantage to reach million's. We all need to make petition's and meets in our hometown's to stop this war. Hang up banner's and get involved. We can not let the murders continue. Bring our troops home! Love and peace, Taz

 

do you mean my sixties paper i wrote? if so, thanks. it took me two whole monthes to get everything. i got an a plus on it (which is funny, cause i made spelling and grammer errors.. oh well).

 

Jesus was just about everything that the hippies stood for. except for the freelove in the form of sex...but everything else pretty much.

 

Outer Space!