Rainbow Spirit Festival, previously known as Rainbow Serpent Festival, is a four-day annual open-air music and arts festival that takes place during the Australia Day long weekend, in Lexton, Victoria, 160 kilometres (99 mi) west of Melbourne, Australia. The festival is mainly known for its focus on electronic music, with psychedelic trance, minimal techno, and chill-out music on its main stage, but it now features music across many genres, many art installations, workshops, and other attractions such as market stalls, healing arts and multi-cultural foods. Approximately 12,000 people attend the festival each year.
The Market Stage at Rainbow Serpent 2013
Performer at Rainbow Serpent Festival 2006
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion of many Aboriginal Australian peoples. Much like the archetypal mother goddess, the Rainbow Serpent creates land and diversity for the Aboriginal people, but when disturbed can bring great chaos.
Australian Aboriginal rock painting of the "Rainbow Serpent".
Wonambi naracoortensis and Thylacoleo
Sidney Nolan's Snake (1970-72), held at the Museum of Old and New Art in Hobart, is a giant Rainbow Serpent mural made of 1620 painted panels.