Glastonbury Bans Sale Of Native American Headdresses

Already crowned the world’s most influential festival in terms of driving listening trends, Glastonbury is once again set to win hearts and minds across the globe by banning the sale of Native American style headdresses at next year’s festival.

The festival changed its stance after a petition launched by UK resident Daniel W. Round on Change.org. Round wrote he had no luck contacting Glastonbury organisers about his concerns before launching his campaign, and said the donning of Native American headdresses as casual fashion by festival-goers was an “increasingly prevalent” and “concerning” trend.

“There has long been consensus among indigenous civil rights activists in North America about the wearing of headdresses by non-Natives – that it is an offensive and disrespectful form of cultural appropriation, that it homogenises diverse indigenous peoples, and that it perpetuates damaging, archaic and racist stereotypes,” he noted.

Despite a fairly modest reception to the petition — it accrued just 65 signatures — Round is now labelling the campaign a victory. “I have just spoken with someone at the Glastonbury festival office – they got in touch to inform me that the festival has decided to ban the sale of headdresses from next year,” he posted in an update.

Festival co-organiser Emily Eavis, daughter of founder Michael Eavis, was apparently made aware of the issue, and as a result headdresses have now been added to the list of items traders cannot sell at Glastonbury. The list now includes an “Indian Headdresses” entry.

Meredith Music Festival and Canadian festival Bass Coast made headlines by banning headdresses earlier in the year, though in both cases an outright ban prevented festivalgoers from wearing them. This is not the case at Glastonbury.

Round thanked the passionate supporters of his small petition and said he hopes that Glastonbury will inspire other music festivals around the world to follow suit. “Although it is only one UK festival, I hope that if we spread the news of Glastonbury’s decision on-line, positive discussions about the stereotyping of Native Americans and the headdress will grow in the UK and elsewhere.”

Good on ya, Danny. Here’s hoping you’re right.

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