Peace. Love. Unity. Respect

PLUR is the principle adopted by rave culture. Many ravers that I’ve encountered have taken this to be a philosophy for life and applied it to their personal relationships.

Peace refers to the avoidance of negative emotions. Rave music festivals are rooted in electronic dance music and therefore have no room for negative emotions.

Love refers the acts of friendliness towards one another. People of various age and shape come to this judgement-free festival to express themselves. Often, ravers trade plastic bracelets known as Kandi in order to show a connection of PLUR.

Unity refers to the community within. People come together in appreciation of the music and bond over the eccentric fashion of rave culture and the intense electronic music.

Respect refers to the acceptance and tolerance towards one another without judgement. People of various age and shape come to this judgement-free festival to express themselves. Everyone is beautiful in their own way and this is a time for them to be expressive and safe.

My first rave was Lights All Night. An EDM Dallas music festival featuring big names like Tiësto, Diplo and Gucci Mane. Although in essence, it appears to be one large dance party but the layers of depth are so much more. There was installations of art, crazy fashion styles and augmented reality stimulations.

I felt a sense of safety and belonging because it didn’t matter what I looked like or who I was. What mattered was the energy I radiated and how I treated those around me. While I was dancing to a set by EDM artist, Rezz, two women came up to me to trade Kandi.

Kandi is a term used to describe colorful plastic bracelets, typically with some phrase or word written across. In rave culture, Kandi is traded to represent a connection felt between two people. It’s given via a hand ritual that incorporates PLUR. First by connecting peace signs by the finger tips to represent peace. Then a heart is made by each participant forming a half heart then connecting these halves. This act represents love. Then the two traders must press their palms together to represent unity. Then the hands must grab each other to refer to unity. While in this unity form, each raver takes a bracelet from their arm and transfers it to the other. The ritual ends with a hug to represent PLUR.

The two ladies each traded me a bracelet. One with the word happy and the other with the word beautiful. They told me I radiated a positive energy and that my style was beautiful. In that moment, I realized that this PLUR mindset is the applicable to how we treat others in our daily life.

I will always live with Peace, Love, Unity and Respect.

#socialmedia #viralvideos