Confest 2020 Reasons you Should Attend
Confest can be said to be the indigenous Hippi culture of Australia. This rebel movement of alternative lifestyle and culture was started in 1976. The festival takes place over the Easter time, wherein about 7000 participants take part in it for five to seven days. The festival is hosted by a cooperative society named Down to Earth (DTE), which it has been conducting annually with growing popularity amongst the South-Eastern population of Australia. However, many people converge to this festival from all over the world to experience this unique experiment with an alternative lifestyle. This unique festival cum conference, celebrating Alternate culture and beliefs, is a vibrant confluence of people from different ethnicities and religion. It gives space for independent thinking without any fear of judgment or repercussions from society. Here we will discuss the top 10 reasons for attending Confest Australia 2020.
1. Experience Alternative Culture and Lifestyle
At Confest you will be transported to a new world away from the mainstream world. There is a complete overhaul in lifestyle in Confest living. You start playing a role in community living and become a partner in its well being. You will have to contribute at least two hours daily towards community service. From an individualistic lookout, you morph into a caring member of a community. Confest is an alternative lifestyle festival in the area of open forest, coupled with a water body. It’s created on co-operative lines and you get a chance to experience the benefits of such an alternative lifestyle and culture. There’s training in entirety from yoga to permaculture, mud bath and cuddle puddles. The organization and all instructions are run through volunteers. Huge spas, steam tents, network kitchens are anywhere and everywhere. One must experience this new way of living at Confest Australia 2020.
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2. Select Village of Your Choice to Live In
Confest is formed on the ground by having different villages under some theme. Under these themes, the members of that village are expected to behave and conduct workshops. The schedule of these workshops are displayed on a chalkboard kept centrally within the festival premises. You could choose any village of your choice to live in and become part of that tribe. The village is surrounded by an open paddock where there is a marketplace for arts and food. This market is the area inside the village where money transactions take place. It hosts some sports also. Surrounding the market is a committed area for fireplace, an information dissemination tent wherein participants can learn about the diverse forthcoming village activities and workshops. Village themes can be varied in the full spectrum. It may be a village with a pure vegetarian rule that prevails, or a village which prohibits all devices of noise pollution or a village where you are expected to smile a lot.
3. Enjoy Community Kitchen
Villages also host shared kitchen which basically provides for community cooking and then sharing the food prepared with collective efforts. In this concept of the community kitchen, you become part and parcel of the community as a family. Instead of family kitchens, which keeps the family together, you can experience the strength of community kitchen here in a village in Confest. You can contribute to making food and you will be fed by other Confesters of the village. This is where you start to learn to share your thoughts and resources with the community, fostering stronger ties as if in a tribe. The community kitchen concept compels you to shed your inhibitions of showcasing your talent within a wider audience of community, and also gain confidence and approval of the community. From here emerges the urge to participate in group cultural activities, like the tribal drum circles. Community Kitchen will totally transform you into a better person who believes in sharing and caring for the society he lives in.
4. Dress Up As You Please
Confest advertises itself as an area where clothing is optional. You are allowed to wear what you please. The dress and how to dress is entirely your personal choice. Confest gives you the liberty to express yourself through your dress. Your clothing need not be adhering to any known dress code or style that you please. You do not even have to adhere to any known dress code of any gender. Such liberty can be exhilarating for many, as it gives them the freedom to express your personality to the fullest possible imagination. You are fully in control of your personality without any fear of being judged or scoffed by your fellow Confesters. This liberty transcends all boundaries and gets manifested in your desire in not opting for any clothes at all and be absolutely one with nature. Or you may just don some tattoos or colour on your body and express yourself fearlessly inside your community living. You are the sole decision-maker of your body and how it is presented in public. Only one rule prevails in Confest regarding clothing – simply respect other Confesters choice of dress or no dress.
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5. Eco-friendly and Permaculture Living
In Confest villages take great care is taken to respect nature and ecology. You will find nothing which disturbs the ecological balance of this planet. You will be surprised with the care that fellow Confesters will show towards issues of eco-friendly behaviour, which is a new normal here. There will be no littering and use of plastic and other material which are not biodegradable. Everything used will be nature-friendly, even your baths and other amenities connected to your personal hygiene. Nature rules the roost here, and the Confesters are children of mother nature. Activities of permaculture are a testimony to this aspect of nature care. You will be taught through various workshops how you must care for nature and not indulge in agriculture but permaculture to eke out your living. Sustainable ways to tap nature’s bounties is the focus of these communities. Scarifying the earth to milch its resources is a big no at these communities so that you become a responsible citizen of this planet.
6. Participate in Wonders of Spontaneous Choir
Confest allows you to participate in a spontaneous choir. It is a way to bond strongly with fellow inhabitants of the community. The emotional chord of participating in a spontaneous choir and its other benefits of your social well being is immense. You will be swayed by the force of singing in a group and bonding with them as human beings. It is an expression of your inner self with other beings in a flash. It ensures that you do not just exist in the realm of your physical body, but cross that physical boundary to reach out to other fellow beings as if all are one. The power to transcend the physical boundary of your body to include other beings around you as your own self is immense in these spontaneous choirs. Don’t believe in these powers, then come and experience it here in a Confest in Australia. The energy build-up and extension of your self will astound you.
7. Community Service
While Confest has no authentic cultural philosophy, a range of informal cultural elements has developed with the pageant. The overriding concern of the Confest organizers is that every participant in this festival of celebrating mankind should be actively involved in community service. It is this aspect which differs so much with modern living that we have known so far. In modern ways of living man has become a very self-centred being, concerned with the well being of himself over anybody else. There are of course some instances of community service but that is never an overriding factor. Hence we in the modern world consider community service as a social responsibility which may be committed by an individual. There is no compelling reason to do so. But here the whole concept of community service is turned over on its head. It is an overriding factor wherein you as a member of the community will have to think of the community first before you start considering yourself as an entity. Community service starts from the bare minimum of expending your energies for the community for two hours every day. Rest becomes an automatic expression of yourself as part of the community.
8. Share Your Expertise
At Confest you have the full liberty and opportunity to share your expertise or experience in any field with the rest of the community members. Through continuous workshops, you have the right environment to invite fellow Confesters to attend your workshop. He process is simple. You simply have to inscribe in a community information centre board what you plan to do in the workshop and mention the date, time and location. People will come and listen and participate in your workshop. Workshops can be on anything under the sun. It can be yoga, tantric teachings, innovative paintings, storytelling as a method of healing souls, meditation, permaculture methods, alternative sexuality or just plain singing and dancing methods. Such workshops of sharing your knowledge and experiences enrich not only you bu the community members. These are the moments of finding joy and happiness in sharing knowledge. Feel free to share your expertise without any fear of criticism, and you can build your own followers if they like your idea.
9. Enjoy Music Festival Free
At Confest you can enjoy music festivals held there for free. You will find musicians entertaining and enthralling you with a variety of music. Genre restrictions are not there, so you will be able to enjoy regional music or even tribal music. Impromptu drum circles are created and you can participate or sit back and enjoy the spectacle. In matters of music here is a wide range of events. You can take part in a workshop or conduct your own workshop if you feel you have something substantive to offer to the community in any aspect of music. If you just start drumming a percussion you will suddenly find a tide of people joining you with other musical instruments. It will suddenly become a celebration spot with lots of dancing and joyous singing. The atmosphere will become supercharged with happiness and joy in community participation. That is the power of music that you will experience first hand at Confest.
10. Learn Skills at Workshops for Free
When you come to Confest, you have to keep an open mind to learn new ways of leading a happy and healthy life. There are many ways you will learn new ways of making your life meaningful on this planet. All you have to do is head over to the community information centre and see what all workshops are billed for the day. You will be amazed at the numerous and varied subjects from which you can choose to learn here for free. Practical skills of living life to the fullest can be learnt here. All your wishes for learning can come true here. You can learn simple ways of making good coffee or learn about alternative medicine or even yoga and tantric ways of healing. Wouldn’t it be fun to learn about alternate cultural practices that people employ to get around complicated issues of life and love? Learning here is simple and fun. There are no pressures on you to complete a course. If you do not like to continue learning a particular skill, you can drop out and take up some other skill.
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Conclusion
Confest is fast emerging as an alternate way of living life. It encourages discourses and celebrates micro-culture, multidimensional diversity. Alternate practices in various aspects of living life are moored in the principle of community service and eco-friendly existence. This is Australia’s indigenous alternative movement which is slowly gathering steam. You may take decision based on this list of reasons to attend Confest Australia 2020.
References
- https://www.confest.org.au/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ConFest
- https://www.christalignment.org/confest
- http://www.journages.com/confest/
- https://getlostbefree.com/wanderlust-continues-confest-festival-experience-in-australia/
Main Image Source : Pixabay
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