With a powerful focus on ‘unearthing something hidden within’ by celebrating ‘the expansion of consciousness through music and arts, talks and workshops’, the UNEARTHED FESTIVAL is a community and family-driven environment that offers a refreshing change from the typical chaos and indulgence often found at festivals.
There’s something for everyone here, from Shamanic Trance Ceremonies to interactive workshops to find your power animal, yoga and fire performances, and vegetarian and vegan food stalls. It’s a weekend festival designed to disconnect from the commotion of the 21st century, centred around nature, wellbeing, spiritualism, healing, and understanding how to create a better world. Be prepared to let your emotions run wild, because, whether you like it or not, this festival is one where you must embrace yourself as others embrace you!
Spread over several fields near St Davids in Pembrokeshire, the Unearthed Festival, now in its 10th year, was founded by Tim Rees. The wholesome thing about the Unearthed Festival is the varied ages, lifestyles and personalities that descend upon these fields, from babes in prams to sexagenarians or older who clearly remember the experimental days of the 60s and 70s. The festival’s layout is created around entertainment in marquees that overlook open communal spaces.
These fields, and the additional two for camping, are connected by a single-track road, making the entire festival an exclusive area. This means parents can rest assured that their children are safe to roam freely – which they will undoubtedly do!
Like with any festival, music is a key component to Unearthed, with the Steppen Roots Stage, the Free Stage, the Magic Teapot and the Unearthed Soundsystem all hosting a range of talented musicians. The former is the festival’s main stage with reggae and folk music to represent the ‘roots’ of the land.
This year headline acts from around the globe included Sky Barkers, The Turbans, a band inspired by Baltic and eastern European music, and Marcus Gad from the South of France who is only performing two gigs in the U.K., and Unearthed was one of them! Local DJ Timbali also performed his own music, captivating and engaging the audience to dance without a care in the world, and you can bet 2023 will have an equally dynamic line up! The Unearthed Soundsystem performs derivative minimalist Bass, Roots, and Dub inspired music.
The Magic Teapot is a wonderfully informal café with a fire in the centre and a piano where budding musicians belt a few tunes as guests sip a much-needed cup of coffee.
Speaking of refreshments, food and drink are Unearthed Festival’s second focus, from uber indulgent cakes by Get Caked to the Amore Pizza stand serving margheritas to The Greek pizza! Juices, smoothies, plant-based burgers, Streetfood inspired wraps and for the more daring, Korean inspired cuisine like Kimchi are all on offer! There’s plenty of “shops” to indulge in as well, including the Blacksmith Forge with its handmade items, and Wicked Fairies which sells vintage clothing, crystals, spell candles, tarot cards, and incense sticks. The Cuttle fish tent sells custom jewellery created from cutlery from auctions, markets, and junk shops.
New for 2022, is the Temple Arena, a dedicated wellness area where guests can partake in 5 Rhythms Dance by Alex Mackay– a moving meditation practice – a gratitude ceremony, various kinds of yoga, and more. The Sacred Sound Unearthed is led by sound guides Shion Buschner, Bear Love and Craig Shankster who use vibration and sound to connect our bodies, awareness, and minds to a deeper place within.
The Temple Area also has massage tents, a holistic therapies tent, an ancient nomad therapies tent, the Circle of Gwynvyd – which hosts a zen tea ceremony, our sacred earth meditation, and birthing stories – trapeze and aerial circus lessons, intimacy workshops, cacao ceremonies and a sacred fire which is a technology-free zone. The Goddess of Many Names: Temple of Amor is a sacred sex space with workshops designed to explore relational authenticity and conscious curiosity. Here, festival goers join in with practices like Tantric Communication, Shibari, Sensual Journeys and learn about Submission & Domination, and Conscious Kink.
Adults aren’t the only ones able to enjoy themselves at Unearthed Festival, as the Kids and Teen areas have storytelling, comedy, yoga, meditation and arts and crafts activities and workshops. The Drenchtown is where guests chill in hammocks, a communal fire evokes a tribal interconnection feel, and a tented dance space is where teens-going-on-young-adults can boogie to a DJ’s mix. The traditional Tipi Cinema likewise showcases a collection of films throughout the weekend.
If you’d like to find out more about the three-day festival and what to expect for 2023, then just click HERE. The 2022 programme will give you a sense of what to expect, HERE.
You can also download this years programme to your device to look through at your leisure, HERE.
