how to describe Burning Man.... -- Lean Mean Singing Machines

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Date Posted: 12:36:47 08/09/00 Wed
Author: SFMezzo
Subject: how to describe Burning Man....
In reply to: Jane 's message, "i MUST know!!!!!" on 07:06:04 08/08/00 Tue

Burning Man is, above all, impossible to describe. It is a week long "festival" (for lack of a better word) on a dry lake bed in the high desert. In the middle of this desert, a city of some 20,000+ people emerges over the course of this week. Anything that you could imagine, plus many things you couldn't, someone is doing/building/wearing/creating/performing. Many outside observers dismiss it as a bunch of hippies running around naked on drugs, but that is so not what it is about (ok, for some people, that is what it is about). It is about creativity, self-expression, self-discovery -- in an environment free of societal norms and expectations. The tickets say "Participants only -- no spectators". The whole thing culminates in this incredible ritual ceremony where they burn this 100ft high (or something like that) wooden statue of a man. I never understood the primal power of fire before attending this. There's a reason all "primitive" cultures have rituals surrounding fire.

It is not for everyone, certainly. I wouldn't have thought it was for me, either, before I went, but once there I discovered a lot of very interesting things about myself, including reserves of creative energy that I now tap into in my singing.

If you want to go, I suggest you consider doing so soon. This year is probably out, but chances are Burning Man as it is now will not last many more years. It is getting too big for its own good, and the organizers are having a lot of problems with the BLM getting permits and stuff. If you want to know more about it, you'll have to come over to my house and get me drunk enough to show you my pictures :-).

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Replies:

Re: how to describe Burning Man.... -- Ben the tenor, 13:10:31 08/09/00 Wed