Glastonbury organisers to restrict sales of Native American-style headdresses on-site

The bonnet has been criticised as an indicator of cultural appropriation

Glastonbury organisers have placed Native American headdresses on a list of items that on-site traders are forbidden to sell without prior authorisation.

The list also includes items such as alcohol, cigarettes, candle flares, flags and products bearing the festival’s name or logo.

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has stressed that headdresses haven’t been banned outright.

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Eavis told NME: “It isn’t a ban, it’s just that we’ve asked the two traders selling them to hold off.”

The move is being hailed as a victory by the instigator of an online petition calling for a ban on the garment at the festival. Though controversial, Native American-style headdresses have become a staple sight at festivals in the US and Europe.

Petition organiser Daniel Round reported the news on the Change.org page, writing: “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!”

“Our petition, small in numbers but passionate in support, pushed this issue right up to [organiser] Emily Eavis, and she listened. From next year, alongside candle flares and flags, Native American style headdresses will not be on sale at Glasto stalls.”

“Although it is only one UK festival, I hope that if we spread the news of Glastonbury’s decision online, positive discussions about the stereotyping of Native Americans and the headdress will grow in the UK and elsewhere.”

Just 65 people signed the petition online. Explaining the reason for setting it up, the original text read: “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.”

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Earlier this year, Canadian festival Bass Coast was the first music event to ban the headdress. In June, Pharrell Williams issued an apology for wearing a Native American headdress on the cover of Elle magazine.

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