Posted on 09/05/2004 4:04:17 PM PDT by scuret
BLACK ROCK DESERT, Nevada (AP) -- As jugglers danced with hoops and spirals of fire, vehicles belched flames and hypnotic drums echoed through the night, more than 35,000 costumed revelers ritually burned a 40-foot neon-and-wooden icon of a man deep in the Nevada desert. The 19th annual Burning Man festival, a bizarre counterculture event in one of the most remote places in America, was back, this year with record crowds. "It's an emotional experience," said Silvie, of San Diego, who would give only her first name. "There's a reverence here." The annual fantasy event grew out of San Francisco's bohemian street theater nearly 20 years ago, when a group of artists and spectators spontaneously burned an 8-foot wooden figure on a Bay Area beach. Many were awed by this year's temple, created by artist David Best. It took thousands of hours to build the illuminated temple from lace-like filigrees of plywood left over after toy punchouts were made. Builders started construction four months ago in Petaluma, California, before shipping the components into the desert aboard flatbed trucks. By tradition, revelers leave the names of departed loved ones and other remembrances to be burned in the temple. Many visitors cried while composing their gifts, and some collapsed into the arms of others. One middle-aged man read a lengthy, moving essay about his eccentric late mother, then fell to the floor of the temple and hyperventilated. For many, torching the temple has become the centerpiece of the annual burn, a more intimate, spiritual event than the rave-party-like immolation of the man icon. "To burn it, it's like giving it to a higher force. It's like an offering," said Fred Dickson, who helped build the temple.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Just a suggestion.
In a related story...
the people of Northern Utah received what can only be called the munchies as there was a run on all the food stores in Salt Lake City and Ogden Utah.
LOL what a bunch of LOSERS!!!!
The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, no matter how whacky it may be . . . and yes, I would call this a religious event. Not one I have any interest in subscribing to, mind you, but as long as they're not committing live sacrifices or anything like that, I don't have a problem with it.
We're big enough to tolerate this sort of looniness.
I have several friends who were at BM over the weekend. One is a Marine Reservist who has served his country honorably on active duty. Another is a registered Republican and computer-tech entrepreneur who is happily married and law-abiding.
Sure, there are a lot of freak-show aspects to BM...as there are at the Indy 500, Spring Break, or any other major gathering of otherwise-"normal" people blowing off steam.I have some problems with people who take small children there (more because of the harsh environment than for the nekkidness and revelry), but otherwise the whole thing just seems to be an arty excuse for a massive party.
I think John Fraud Kerry is the Burning Man.
John Kerry's REAL "Band of Brothers." :)
I don't know if it still goes on, but in the 50s there was an annual festival in Santa Fe during which an effigy was burned on Labor Day weekend. The "victim" was Zozobra (sp?) AKA "Old Man Gloom". It had religious origins but was somewhat in the spirit of Mardi Gras in Cajun territory, mostly aimed at having a good time.
Scary, very scary.
Went to see the naked women that we'd heard about.
Naked women alright, but most of them were butt-ugly.
Your typical "earth mother" type, you know, with the hairy legs and armpits, dunlop disease, unkempt hair.
Real nasty bunch, men and women. Defecating and urinating wherever they pleased, throwing garbage and trash all over, begging and stealing anything.
Straight folks, like we were, (at least I was), get more or less shunned, unless you have a particular substance to share.
Most of them didn't care for the Jack Daniels and Coors, they wanted something a little stronger.
Drug use was rampant.
The number of unprepared persons (this is a desert!!) were astounding.
The BLM and some sort of volunteer group were constantly rescueing some nit wit that had had too much sun and had not brought enough water. We gave away nearly half of our water supply to idiots that were literally dying of thirst. I saw one girl that was suffering from 3rd degree sunburn, yet refused to accept the aloe vera or sun screen we offered.
I believe that was the year before they started enforcing the requirment that you had to have certain items to get into the area.
Not interesting enough for me to want a return trip.
I just can't get into the whole karmic-cosmic burning man thing. It's kinda goofy, if you ask me.
Purely insane paganism...
After reading the article, that structure that was burned must have cost CONSERVATIVELY over $100,000 to build, transport, and then torch (more like 300 - 400 grand).
Question is, who's paying for this annual pagan escapade?
I think that may have been the first year they did it on the desert. The event grew out of an impromptu gathering on San Francisco's Baker Beach in 1986. It grew too big to hold in an urban area, so they took it out to the Nevada desert, and I'm sure that a lot of the early attendees had absolutely no idea how to cope in such an arid, isolated environment. These days it sounds as if they have things under much better control, and I'm sure the $165-250 attendance fee scares off most of the hardened dirtbags.
What a pity it was not the Burning Muslim.
It is a freak show. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Someone should set up a Bush/Cheney Booth there, LMAO!
M'kay
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