Burning Man 2013 - Introduction

With all the buzz around Burning Man, it's sometimes hard for a person who has never been to understand what all the hype is about. In this short post, about two months after participating in Burning Man, I'll try to shed some light on why I think it's definitely worth it to experience the event or like-minded events if you can afford the time, money and energy for it.

Three people in a sedan packed full with all that we will need for an entire 8 days of camping in the desert.

The playa - an ancient lake bed which offers a huge plain and lots of dust

Billy - our fantastic Ford Focus that has well served us throughout our US road trip

The shortest explanation I can come up with is that Burning Man is a gathering of tons of people (~68,000 this year, it was said) who camp out in inhospitable weather for a week while trying to entertain and express themselves to the max. With the addition of some important principles such as participation, which means you should be a part rather than a spectator and gifting, which means you're supposed to give things to others the whole experience becomes very rich.

A burner who forgot to use sunscreen

The richness means that most participants (aka Burners) have completely different experiences from one another. Often asking other burners how their they enjoyed their burn, they'd answer it was amazing. Getting more specific and you realize the only experiences you both had in common were seeing The Man burn and seeing the giant fire-breathing octopus. You end up hearing and telling about really cool things that are quite different things all the time. My feeling was that a week was a really short time and altogether provided a taste of what the burn offers.

Jews are everywhere in the US. Burning man had a few Israeli camps as well.

Barbie death camp where all barbies go to the slaughter

Dana and I were gifting stuff animals we got at thrift shops around the country, only to loving adopting parents. That wouldn't prevent me from swimming in stuffed animals of another camp.

Big roosters or big cocks? English is so intricate

Many burners were concerned over the excessive police presence in the burn. Seems what they were doing most was giving citations for use of illegal drugs (that are legal in some US states). These two burners were trying to relax the others' attitude to the police presence. Did a fine job.

Mirror games at center camps. Lots of psychedelic artwork throughout the burn.

One of many mobile stages playing music throughout the day and night. Aka an art car.

Fire is a repeating well emphasized motive in the Burning Man, in case you didn't guess it so far.

FIRE!!! Much of the artwork never leaves the playa...

FIRE!!! Nightly great balls of fire are a common sight at the burn

THE omnipresent octopus - could be seen everywhere at all time

I do have more to say about the burn but as I often keep my posts short, I'll just do it in other posts :) Enjoy the pictures and videos.