Originally Written by Soren, edited and added to by Cynicdave

Hello and welcome to my newbie guide to raving. I?ve recently noticed lots of people wanting to "learn to rave" or "become a raver" so I thought I?d throw out some simple thoughts and ideas for people new to the rave scene or wanting to enter it. This is in no way meant to be the absolute rules of raving since there isn?t a defined or proper way to rave. This is just a few of my thoughts and some advice to try and help you out in your journey.

First off I'd like to clear up the misconception that glowsticking is raving. Glowsticking is not raving, it?s simply an activity most likely to be performed at raves.

What's a Rave?

To me Raves are truly a magical thing. Raves are about getting together with close friends, meeting new friends, having a smile on your face for 8 hours straight, and above all the music and dancing. Almost nothing can beat the amazing feeling of cutting loose on the dance floor to a great song, having those droning beats whip you into a frenzy. Raves allow you to release all your inhibitions, all your anger, prejudice, tension, and frustrations thru the sheer bliss of dancing. Raves bring together many people all with the common goal of having a good time. There is nothing else in the world like a rave, nothing as free, nothing as pure, and nothing as fun. I think the time you most understand what a rave is all about is when you are having the best time of your life dancing and you have a huge grin on your face when you look to the side and see another person just like you kicking to the beat and they shoot a big grin right back at you. When this happens you will understand what a rave is and it will forever be a part of your life.

My Advice

If you are going to your first rave or have gone to one or two raves and just don?t get then what should you do? I think first and foremost you should keep in mind that raves are a silly place. They aren?t supposed to make sense in any certain way. People can and will come up to you, give you a big hug, and scream ?Hi my names Happy, who are you??. Some people will be running around in circles, others will look like drones kicking back and forth to the music, and others will just be sprawled out on the ground. Keep in mind that everyone is just there to have a great time and that should be your primary goal too. Don?t feel embarrassed about dancing or anything else. No one is here to judge you and nobody knew how to dance when they started either. I know the openness of raves threw me when I first started going to them, but it really is a good thing and something you will come to greatly appreciate. I suggest every new raver makes the goals of meeting at least 10 new people and dancing for a minimum of 1 hour at every rave you attend. Make sure you wear clothes you are very comfortable in since you will be at the rave for 6+ hours and will be dancing and sweaty. And always remember, don?t be shy and have a great time!

Common Rave Terms

Candy- Candy is all the colorful bracelets, necklaces, and other bright colored and shiny accessories that ravers wear. The bracelets are commonly given away or traded with new people you meet at raves. Often a lot of the candy someone is wearing was given to them by close friends and has a strong emotional value to that person.

Candy (or Kandy) Kids- People that wear lots of candy, bright clothes, and fun accessories. Generally speaking candy kids are also (supposed to be) extremely happy and friendly.
Flow- Flow describes how smooth and fluid something is. Whether it be dancing, Djing, Mcing, or anything else.

Junglists- Junglists wear dark or earth colored clothing and love jungle music. They typically wear wooden beads instead of plastic ones like the candy kids. Junglists are generally seen as more jaded, angry, and aggressive than other ravers but that's not always the case.

Light Show- A light show is when someone uses a light giving device to entertain others. Glowsticking when done directly in front of another person is one good example of this.

Liquid- Liquid is a very smooth dance form that involves being very smooth, wavy, and well? liquid. The basics of liquid are when someone is following one hand with another to create a smooth looking flow.

Orbit- Orbiting is when you attach several photons to a string and spin it and move it around to create neat patterns.

Photons- Photons are LED lights. It?s like a mini colored flashlight with a tiny watch battery in it for power. Photons are used to ?Orbit? and for mind games.

PLUR- This stands for Peace, Love, Unity, and Respect. It?s the mantra of all ravers. It?s an ideal that is sometimes hard to live up too, but if you can it make it part of you then you will be rewarded with an amazing feeling of accomplishment and peace.

Rolling- Someone that is on Ecstasy is said to be rolling.

Stringing- When you attach glow devices to long strings and spin them around to create patterns. This is the most visually impressive glow activity if someone is really good and dangerous if someone is not.

Trainspotting- This is when people stare the DJ to see what tricks he is doing, how he mixes, and what records he is playing.

Venue- Venues are where raves occur and can be anything from a small club to a huge field to an illegal warehouse.

Vibe- Vibe is how the party feels. If a party is loads of fun and everyone is having a great time then you?d say the rave has a great vibe. If no one is dancing and everyone is having a bad time then you could say the vibe sucks.

Quick Links

There are literally hundred of "rave" related websites on the internet.

Want to find raves in your area? Try:

http://www.ravelinks.com/ (Click on Calendar and scroll to bottom)
or
http://www.eventnation.com

Substances and Harm Reduction

(Illegal) Drug use is a part of the rave scene, just as illegal drugs (whether smoking, or drinking alcohol) are sometimes present at a high school prom, or drug use at rock concerts and music events such as woodstock. The rave scene, made up of predominantly younger adults, is no different.

Glowsticking.com does not take a stand for or against drug use, but accepts that drug use can and will happen in any place. With that in mind, Glowsticking.com supports harm reduction programs such as Dancesafe.org and neutral, unbiased drug information sites such as Erowid.org and thegooddrugsguide.com (based in the UK).

Music Commonly Played at Rave Events

The music is forever evolving at raves. All forms of modern music is interconnected. Just as electronica paved the foundation to hip-hop and other musical genres, today's music is blending different kinds of genres.

However, the traditional genres (to date) of music played at raves include electronica such as: Trance, House, Techno, Hardcore, DnB, and many more. Some rave events often include a large hip-hop room with premiere talent.

A commonly misconception is that the only genre of music is "techno". Simply put, that's not true. Some parties don't even play techno.

You can find much more information about the music from various sites or searching on google, but here is one link:

http://phobos.plato.nl/e-primer/

The culture: Jadedness, Experience, and Real Culture

To be honest, as with any kind of culture, there is always a certain level of backlash within the sub-culture itself. The raving scene is no different.

This guide is supposed to be a primer for newbies, so none of this will be elaborated on specifically, but often as a person gains experience with "raving culture", he or she will become "jaded". Why? Perhaps to be cool or to show how much they know more than you, the newbie raver. The "jaded" raver will poke fun at newbie or neophyte ravers. Most of the time, they will either give up raving or their jaded attitude (which eventually, logically, has to apply to not going to raves at all, in which case, they can move onto the next trendy "scene", such as the "hip-hop" scene, or even further down the rave/electronica sub-culture, such as "househeads" and "junglists").
Another example is the refusal of many to call "raving" "raving", but to call "raving" "partying". Why? Some people do it in the presence of non-ravers who may have a very negative connotation of raving. Others take it a step further and call it "partying" because of their perception that the party they are at is "not a real rave". Often, they will give a historical (often exaggerated) lesson of what their perception of a "real" rave is. Others have a snobbish attitude that raving sucks, and nothing is cool anymore, and one begins to wonder why they are there at the party at all, ruining the vibe by folding their arms for hours at a time making fun of every DJ to step onto the stage.

It is my perception that the word "rave" has a broad connotation. A rave in Hawaii is different from a rave in California, to a rave in Texas, to the love parade in Europe, to events in Goa. A rave is a rave when enough people believe it is, and it is yourself who is responsible for having fun. If you ever come to believe that a rave just "sucks", ask yourself whether it is yourself that has changed or the environment. Really think back. Perhaps aside from the clothing and fashion changes, often, there is just a subtle evolution of the scene (aside from outside factors such as the legal climate).

There are always things that are learned that come with experience. You cannot fake this. These small experiences and stories and folk-lore combine to create a "lingo" of sorts that people standing in line waiting for a rave party share that educate and inform each other. With experience, you will learn these small inside jokes that people who've been raving for awhile share, and hopefully enjoy years of fun without burning yourself out through drugs.


Revision #1

Raving is also known by different names everywhere, some regions prefer to call them undergrounds, and depending on the when and where, they could simply be known as clubs. The definition used for this article is that raves are simply parties where electronic dance music is usually played by a DJ. These parties are usually held at night (some raves go on for days and could be held during the day time). Usually though, raves generally have the property of having a diverse crowd. They may have valid permits or no valid permits, and may be "legal" or not.

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