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Black Rock City -

Each year at the end of August/beginning of September, thousands of festival-goers descend on the Black Rock Desert in Nevada and temporarily construct a city for a week-long festival of events.

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Burning Man -

At the end of the festival, a ceremony takes place where a constructed "man" is burned, i.e. a wooden effigy, on the evening before Labor Day.

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Burning Man -

The first time the burning of this symbolic man took place in the Black Rock Desert was in 1990, but the festival has been around since 1986.

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Origins -

Despite how it's grown over the decades, Burning Man has humble origins. It started in June 1986 as a summer solstice celebration on Baker Beach, San Francisco CA.

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Origins -

The bonfire ritual began when Larry Harvey and Jerry James gathered a small group of friends on the beach, burning a small wooden effigy of a man and a dog.

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Origins -

By 1988, the founders had begun distributing flyers that referred to the gathering as "Burning Man," however, they lost the permission to burn the effigy in 1990.

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Black Rock Desert -

Separately, in 1990 Kevin Evans and John Law arranged for an event involving performance art and the burning of sculptures on a relatively unknown playa in Black Rock Desert.

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Performance art -

Titled "Zone Trip No. 4, A Bad Day at Black Rock," John Law announced it in the Cacophony Society's newsletter, of which he was also a founder.

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Bringing the solstice man to the desert -

As the solstice man was allowed to be constructed but not burned on Baker Beach, it was deconstructed into parts in time and transported to Zone Trip No. 4 to take part in the event. 

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Danger Ranger -

Cacophonist Michael Mikel realized those visiting the dry lake who weren't familiar with the environment risked dehydration. To help assist them, he created the Black Rock Rangers, with himself as Danger Ranger.

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Burning Man Festival is born -

Together with the reconstructed man, the event became what we know today as Burning Man, beginning as a fellowship and initially creating community through word of mouth.

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In the beginning -

In the beginning, there were no paid performers or artists, as art and life merged for a week in the desert. The festival wasn't even officially called "Burning Man" until 1996.

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Open to the public -

The same year, it opened to the public for the first time. One of the founders, Law, publicly broke with the event afterwards and said it shouldn't take place, following deaths linked to the festival. One person was killed riding a motorcycle from Gerlach, Nevada, to Black Rock Desert prior to the festival gates opening. Separately, a couple were run over in their tent by an art car traveling to a "rave" camp outside the main camp area.

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Growth -

As the numbers attending Burning Man grew, new rules were instated and restrictions were put in place about who could attend the event.

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Growth -

Some people felt these new restraints took away from the freedoms the festival was based on, but others felt the changes made sense given the scope of the project.

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Road safety in the playa -

Due to the higher levels of activity, a speed limit of five miles (eight kilometers) per hour was put in place, along a grid street structure.

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A haven for cyclists -

All vehicles apart from mutant vehicles and service vehicles were banned, making cycling the main mode of transport for Burners.

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Planning permission -

This new set of rules also banned animals, fireworks, and stated that any art being burned must be done on an approved platform.

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Guiding principles -

The co-founder of Burning Man, Larry Harvey, explained in 2004 that the festival is founded upon ten guiding principles.

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Guiding principles -

These are: radical inclusion, decommodification, radical self-expression, radical self-reliance, gifting, participation, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, and immediacy.

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No longer free -

While it might have started out as a free festival, the cost has skyrocketed with the ticket alone coming in around US$750.

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Anti-commodification -

Burning Man is big business, despite its anti-commodification stance once you actually get there. Burners build the city from scratch and money isn't used on site.

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Anti-commodification -

Perhaps somewhere between a desert rave and an art festival, the event sees artists, dancers, performers, DJs, musicians, designers, hedonists, and exhibitionists participating in a week-long creative immersion.

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Annual theme -

Each year, a new theme is set, and participants build art, create performances, and choose their outfits according to that theme. 

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Community or debauchery in the desert? -

Burning Man seems to represent different things to different participants. While for many it's the pinnacle of creative self-expression, for others it's a chance to party in the desert.

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Money has no use here, except for one thing -

Money is not used in exchange for goods on the playa, except for one thing: ice! But apart from that, gifting (not bartering) is common. Gifting can take the form of an item, or even a hug, in keeping with the anti-commodification theme.

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Volunteering -

Opportunities to volunteer are to be found all over the playa, where being of service to others is a guiding principle. Whether it's helping someone pitch a tent, carry ice, or offering them a ride so they don't ruin their footwear on the playa dust, it's a place to get creative about how you can show up for others.

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2023 controversy -

In 2023, thousands were stranded when rains and flooding on the playa ground vehicles to a halt, while emergency services urged people to conserve food and water. One person died after the flooding.

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Feel "The Burn" -

There's no set dress code for Burning Man but participants are encouraged to wear something that leans into their own unique self-expression and brings them happiness! 

Sources: (BBC) (Al Jazeera) 

See also: Woodstock: Remembering "3 Days of Peace and Love"

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