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Hash Bash Crash (Album of photos)
\nJai Nitai Gaura Hari das: As Michigan\u2019s long, cold winter finally subsided, April 6, 2019 marked Ann Arbor\u2019 annual Hash Bash, and subsequently The Harmony Collective community\u2019s kick-off to the 2019 street sankirtan season. <\/p>\n
Ann Arbor\u2019s annual Hash Bash originated on April 1, 1971 as a response to the unconstitutional imprisonment of the American poet, writer, and political activist John Sinclair. Sinclair was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being arrested for possessing a small quantity of marijuana. <\/p>\n
In the heart of the University of Michigan\u2019s campus, colloquially called \u201cThe Diag,\u201d 10,000 to 15,000 people now gather on the first Saturday of April to hear a collection of speeches and live music, and to participate in the open consumption of marijuana with the primary goal of reforming federal, state, and local marijuana laws. <\/p>\n
Since 2012, ISKCON Ypsilanti\u2019s Harmony Collective has been organizing Sankirtan inside the event at the same location where Indradyumna Swami met Visnujana Swami. Devotee participation has grown over the years and this year about 30 devotees volunteered in various ways. We held continuous kirtan for more than 7 hours. 130 books and over 2,500 prasadam cookies were distributed. The cookies were especially wholesome to satisfy the appetites of the festival participants, who sometimes asked if the cookies were \u201cspecial.\u201d Additional activities such as henna, face painting and ribbon dancing attracted crowds of people to spend time near the devotees, hearing the Kirtan. <\/p>\n
The Harmony Collective community\u2019s participation in Hash Bash is enlivening for the festival participants by providing them a uniquely wholesome and spiritual experience, and is the sobering solution to the social and political problems that we are still facing almost 50 years after John Sinclair\u2019s arrest.<\/p>\n
For the devotees, the Hash Bash Crash brings everyone together and stokes the fire of sankirtan in our hearts.<\/p>\n
– Jai Nitai Gaura Hari das<\/p>\n
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