The Ganja Faeries

Last Update: July 15, 2008 7:18 PM

Ganja Faeries MAY PARADE 2008 Nimbin MardiGrass

Ganja Faeries are the light spirit of the herb, the essential humour of indulging in it, the cheeky and naughty side, if you like. They're the ones who tickle your funnybone and make you laugh, and dance with you awhile along your way, then appear again in your dreams. They share a collective wisdom of living with cannabis. They help you to remember that the herb is healing in many wonderful ways and that the drug laws are very stupid. If you like, YOU can be a Ganja Faerie.

Hello Ganja Faeries! Yes, that means you! If you come to march at the annual MardiGrass Cannabis Law Reform March and Rally, and you can dance, you’re one of us!

We’re a bunch of friends who start getting ready each year around March or April for the MardiGrass, the first weekend in May. The common thread is green, in all its shades, in all our styles. Ganja Faeries are all different but the same. We create dance steps for the grand parade where we can be a sea of green moving in rhythm to the drums. We sew our costumes and make them wilder every year.

One week before MardiGrass we hold a dance workshop where we show all the new ganja faeries the steps and inspire them to wear costumes. We do it again the day before the parade (Saturday arvo) to make sure everyone knows which way to go when. It’s lots of fun but you need to be fit because on the day it’s a long way to dance and frolic and make lots of noise from the police station down the hill to Peace Park and you’ll probably be stoned as well. Water is essential. Dropping out is not an option. Ganja Faeries go to the end. So come and practice!

Workshops will be held at the Nimbin Community Centre dance studio the Saturday a week before MardiGrass, then the Saturday before the parade, in the afternoons. If you are already in Nimbin rehearsals are held at 5:30pm on Wednesdays. Meet at the Spangled Drongo restaurant / Oasis café across the road from the Dance Studio at the north end of town.

MardiGrass 2008 Program

MardiGrass 2007 Photos

By Jane Treasure

I’m a believer. When I was a kid I found Faeries at the bottom of my garden. They were mucking around in the spinach, wore dresses of sky blue and spinach green and were busy, noisy, and chattering. They were Faeries with attitude. Faeries are like that.

Nimbin has its own transmogrified tribe of women who share the Faerie dreaming. They’re the Ganja Faeries. At the first Mardi Grass parade in 1993 they were there as individual Faerie spirits. In 1994 they had gathered into a Faerie Federation and were in the parade on a Faerie float, awash in green, sparkles, wings, junior Faeries and the beautiful green Ganja Faerie. They were here to stay and it was going to be fun. Cannabis Law Reform and celebrating the female spirit of the Sacred Herb Cannabis is the green sparkly tie that binds them. They love having fun and dancing, are spirited, independent and sometimes noisy. Faeries are like that.

They magically appear during Mardi Grass. You might see them dancing on a float or in the parade, performing a stage show in the Opening or Closing Ceremonies, flitting into Mardi Grass events or resting their feet and drinking coffee. The Ganja Faeries gather before Mardi Grass to Workshop Themes, Choreography, Music, Costumes and performances. They might decide to perform a fabulous Dancing Stage Production or simply slip into their tutus, glitter up and have a quick dance step rehearsal 10 minutes before the parade begins. It all depends on Faerie energy. If they decide to do a stage performance, rehearsals can begin up to two months before Mardi Grass. From the Ganja Faeries their won Chaos Theory emerges with exciting, colourful, innovative and fun performances. We’ve seen the Marching Faeries, The Darling Buds of May, The Prohibition Faeries and the Winning Buds.

The Ganja Faeries weave two traditions into their performances. The ceremonial hookah is combined into performance and smoked on stage. What funsters those Faeries are! By a miracle a very pregnant Faerie appears before Mardi Grass and becomes the honoured fertility symbol – The Ganja Faerie Queen. There’s been the magnificent pregnant, dancing, decorated bellies of Jenny, Biskit, Gorji and the other radiant Queens. Pregnancy, needs to begin in August so pop it in your diary!

Ganja Faerie costumes are a "joint" effort. They have a magic supply of Faerie bits and green tutus. The costume supply grows every yearly and there’s always busy Faerie fingers sewing green ruffles at the last minute.

There’s no upper or lower age limit in the Ganja Faeries. It’s a state of mind, not body. So, if you like rehearsals, dancing (often bare footed in the mud, wearing a green tutu and glitter, being on show, facing the international press and having a great time; maybe you’d like to be a Ganja Faerie.

Thanks to all the women who have been Ganja Faeries and those who still slop on a tutu. They are part of the Nimbin institute that is the Ganja Faeries.

Faeries are like that – bless them.

Biskit's 2006 MardiGrass Faerie Poem