Burning Man

Alyssa Saada

Burning Man Festival

St. Claire

American Rebels

“What festival attracts 70,000 people, sold out in 44 minutes this year and features costumes that would make Lady Gaga look like a puritan? It’s called Burning Man” . The Burning Man occurs once every year at Black Rock Desert in Nevada. The event creates a temporary community called Black Rock City where everyone is welcome. It is a week-long festival that begins on the last Monday in August and goes until Labor Day. “Burning Man isn't your usual festival. It's a vibrant participatory metropolis generated by its citizens”. The festival is often described as ineffable. In order to understand the beauty, uniqueness and futurosity of the Burning Man Festival, one must simply go and have an unforgettable experience. Although the tickets are $400, this festival is purely art, there are no advertisements allowed and the only refreshments that can be purchased are coffee and ice because everything is shared amongst the Black Rock City community. At the end of the event comes the main attraction, which features the burning of a gigantic wooden figure of a man.

http://news.yahoo.com/katie-couric-burning-man-festival-explained-183349441.html

http://burningman.org/

The event was created by Larry Harvey and his friend Jerry James. At first, Harvey wanted to build an eight-foot wooden man to “burn in a pure spontaneous act of radical

self-expression to celebrate the summer solstice.” He did not want this spectacle to be for his eyes only; therefore, he invited friends and strangers. After assembling a group, the two founders would bring the wooden man to be burned on Baker Beach in San Francisco. Despite Harvey’s initial intention of engaging in self-expressing and celebrating the summer solstice, “it was in the assembly of this community comprised of individuals– valuing total inclusivity, public expression, and the act of ritual as a necessity, gathered to celebrate and ignite the humanoid figure–...