On Instagram this week, I saw a photograph that had me very intrigued.
Now I have heard of the burning man before, but I don’t really know what it is.
But then I searched the internet, watched videos, read articles, just immersed myself
in information and now the enlightened one has arrived.
Aham Brahmasmi.
So what exactly is the Burning man, what is the point of doing it and just why?
To answer all these questions this week on Blessedarch’s 5 minutes, we are talking
about the Burning Man.
For one week, in a whole year in the middle of nowhere, a city comes to life.
This year that city has close to 70,000 residents.
It is a city that explores art and self expression.
You can do whatever you want, you can build whatever you can imagine, it is a city of
dreams, sounds amazing right?
But after their week is over, the city vanishes, leaving behind barely any trace that it even
existed.
This is what the Burning Man is.
If you understood anything from that description, wohoo, you can close the video now, but if
you were like, huh?, let me actually take you back to the first burning man, and explain
how all of it started.
In 1986 on the summer solstice, a man, 8 ft tall, was burnt.
Larry Harvey and Jerry James set fire to this man and his dog.
Harvey described this act as ‘ self expression’.
He was just expressing himself.
The man and his dog were made out of wood.
Raavan jala rhe the saale.
Burning Man.
So it started from 1986, and became like this ritual, every year on summer solstice some
people gathered and just burnt this man, wooden man.
You may ask why did they do this, and to be honest that is a very good question.
It all started In 1986, the burning man was 8ft tall, in 1987, this became 15ft and in
1988, it became 30ft.
The event year by year started growing and also changing.
At first it was just spread by word of mouth and only people who were mad enough to go
in a literal desert in the middle of nowhere actually went there.
Today this festival is completely different, it is visited by artists , architects , photographers,
social media influencers and most of literally the whole of Silicon Valley.
Elon Musk also went there.
But people don’t just gather in this temporary city to just burn a wooden man.
It has become much larger than that.
Today this city is about exploring art, about understanding and exploring people, and about
expressing yourself and your ideas.
People build whatever they want to build, people wear whatever they want to wear, and
even if they don’t want to wear anything, that is encouraged as well.
For 1 whole week in a year, people free themselves from any restrictions and just let themselves
express.
Now this all sounds amazing, but this also sounds very chaotic, and it sort of it.
Over the years as the festival grew, the organizers knew that they needed some order.
Tiny.
The first thing that they needed to do was to contain this festival.
Initially the just made a circle and people could be and stay within it however they wanted.
But soon they realized this wont work.
And so a proper plan for this city was made.
The city was made as a radial city with just roads and some other infrastructure.
The rest of the city is built by participant every year , they make it however they want
just staying within the plan.
The central ring road is called Esplande, but the names of all the other roads keep
changing every year.
So to make things easier people assume the city in the shape of a clock and then just
use clock numbers to define the layout.
So within this layout people stay and do activities from 2 PM to 10 PM of the city layout.
From 10pm to 2PM the city is left free for art exhibits.
Now even though this city is about freedom and expression and just being.
There are actually some rules in this city, lets go over them.
There are no cash transaction in this city.
People either bring with themselves everything they need, or other people gift things to
you.
Literally they just gift it to you, no one expects anything in return.
Number 2 The whole city is pedestrian and bike friendly.
The only cars allowed to move in the festival are ones which are pieces of art and even
those go through a strict review.
But one of the most important rules of this city is called “leave no trace’.
The festival participants or burners can leave no trace behind, they destroy, clean and burn
everything so no trace of them ever being there is left behind.
On the last day of the festival which for 2019 is today the 2nd of September, The man
is burnt.
There is just so much to discuss about the burning man, but one aspect that I loved was
the temple.
The temple is a temporary pavilion built each year and this is also burnt.
The temple is a place that all burners go to to just be still.
They leave behind letters, pictures, anything that bring them joy, anger, grief or any other
emotion.
They share it or they let go of it.
On the last day of the festival, the temple is burnt with the Man And all of the leteers
the grief the joy the sorrows are burnt with it.
Now people in burning man have the time of their life.
There is art, music, dancing, drugs, public nudity, there is just so much that keeps people
engaged.
And that’s a good thing because the ticket this year cost $550, fees and taxes extra.
Also by the way this festival does have some negative impact as well.
There is also the fact that people drive for miles to reach this place burning so much
fuel, and despite the leave no trace rule, there is trash buildup that increases every
year.
But whatever you may say, Burners will not stop attending this glorious festival to express,
to feel, to share and to just be.
And looks like our time is up.
To the rationalists and the realists burning man will sound insane.
To the artists and the creatives, it will sound like heaven.
And to be honest we all have both inside of us the rationalists & the creatives . Aham
Brahmasmi.
That was it for this week please give it a thumbs up, please share this video, please
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I will see you guys next week with more such amazing content.
Also follow me on Instagram for daily architecture facts.
Until next time bye.