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Part 1 -- Introduction and The Camps |
Part 2 -- The Art |
Part 3 -- The People |
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Part 4 -- Events and the Desert |
Part 5 -- The Man and the Burn |
Part 6 -- Exodus |
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The centerpiece of it all is the Man. You'll see many photos of him at the other web sites, but I wanted to include a few. The Man is quite far from the camps now, and thus often is quite deserted, but from time to time crowds will gather. The man is the enduring symbol of the festival and an interesting work of art in his own right.
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| Panorama ZOOM view |
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These shots were taken on Sunday, before the burn. They had the man down to load the explosives for the burn itself. The right shot is a full 360 degree panorama shot from the man's pedestal. You may also want to go to my panorama page for other views of this panorama and others.
The burn is what started it all, and still remains the climax and focal point of the entire week. Of course, with all the other exotica scattered around the festival, it's become harder and harder to build any climax to it that would not be anticlimactic. Nonetheless, they manage.
The night of the burn is an orgy of fire. People burn all sorts of things before the main event. It's hard to photograph, but the edges of camp, where fire is safe, become a ring of fire. Nobody wants to do much after the burn, both to not upstage it, and to not be rendered pointless by it.
The burn is hard to photograph, of course, but I have a few shots. It begins with a procession to the man, were almost the entire community walks to and surrounds the man from a safe distance. For the fire the Man's arms are raised up, making him match the Burning Man logo.
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Those who have volunteered to participate perform a fire dance. Men walk on stilts, dancers twirl firing batons. Lots of primal nudity, heavy drums, chanting and a true tribal feel that it's hard for people not to feel part of.
We seat ourselves to get a good angle. The crowd is 10 to 20 people thick at places. A man on stilts approaches our group. Perhaps others are doing this to other groups in the ring around the Man.
"What are we going to do?" he asks a somewhat timid woman sitting to my left.
"Burn the Man?" she says, almost as a question.
"That's right," he says, his voice dripping with a distinct combination of joy and mischief, "we're going to burn the Man." And while those ringing the man may feel a bit like an audience at this point, this exchange brings them back as participants, and they roar with approval.
A tall nude woman ascends the steps to the base of the Man and lights a torch. It seems she is poised to light the Man's fuse. But in a stunt they've pulled before, another man leaps from darkness and she lights him. He's wearing a protective, flammable suit. He dances as he burns with a bright flame.
Then the live "burning man" grasps the fuse with his own burning hand and lights the effigy Burning Man.
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But he doesn't just burn like a pile of wood. They've wired him with fireworks and explosives and primers so he will burn quickly and spectacularly. They aren't anything fancier than other good pyrotechnic shows, but as the climax to the festival they take your breath away.
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Soon the Man is raging on fire. Three-foot-diameter wooden globes arranged in a circle around the Man are burning brightly as well. He is engulfed and more ordinary fire takes over.
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As the fire gets hotter, crews with cables pull on him so he'll fall faster. It also controls where he falls, and after he falls the crowd can then come and appraoch the fire closely.
They do and a party of drumming, dancing and fire continues for hours afterwards. Those who want to perform, or listen, or play. Some move on to other areas, where other things continue to burn. Some start raves, and dance or set off other displays.
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That's me at the burn, decked out in a strange hat with a very nerdy source. In fact, if you can identify the source of the hat you win major internet nerd points. Like most people, I'me also decorated with glow-sticks of various sorts.
The party continues on all night, and into the night. In the morning, the event will be over. As soon as people wake up, be that 9am or 3pm, they will start their trek back.
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Part 1 -- Introduction and The Camps |
Part 2 -- The Art |
Part 3 -- The People |
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Part 4 -- Events and the Desert |
Part 5 -- The Man and the Burn |
Part 6 -- Exodus |
