GDEXXY wrote:WTF is it?
Good question!
I'm still not totally sure what it is. My sister has gone for the last 5 years. Apperantly it started as a small little thing and it's grown to be pretty huge (30,000 people or so last year I think, I know it says it somewhere on the site).
My sister said she compares it to what she thinks the first woodstock would have been like.
Basically a whole ton of people camp out in the middle of the desert, they create a city that only lasts for a week, at the end of the week no trace is supposed to be left behind. The only thing sold there is ice (because there is no electricity on the playa), everything else you've gotta bring with you, or get from other people. Supposedly if you run out of something there's always someone willing to either give it to you, or trade it for something else. Throughout the week they burn stuff on burn platforms (Even though I hate them, I hear bevis and butthead, "Fire, heh heh Fire, yeah Fire"). Most of it is burnable art, stuff that looks cool before it burns, but looks neat while it's burning as well. At the end of the week there is a HUGE structure, with a man on top (the man is made out of wood and other burnables) and they burn him complete with a huge fireworks show. Last year the structure was a temple of some sort, and everyone was invited to leave personal messages on the structure, so that when it burned their messages went up with it. This year the theme is the sky, the big structure is going to be an observatory, all of the "streets" that people camp on are named after planets.
Lots of people do huge elaborite, interactive theme camps. Almost like making a float for the Macy's day parade, but stationary, and you can play with it. Lots of people dress up in costumes.
I think in a way it's almost like a renisanse festival, but one that mixes all time periods including the future. It's a lot like a Con, etc. Except that the whole thing is created by the particpants as tehy get there, and dismantaled and taken away as they leave. The area it's held in goes from desolate wasteland, to thriving city, to desolate wasteland again.
If you look through the photos on the site, you get more of an idea. It's almost like a pilgramage without the religious aspect. Some people go every single year and stay from the first to the last day. We're arriving on Thursday and leaving Sunday after the burn.
Oh, I think there's also a sex drugs and possibly even rock and roll aspect to it as well, but I'll be avoiding most of that (it's a family friendly event supposedly, if you think your child can handle a week in the middle of nowhere).
For me it's just a way to get away from real life for awhile (even more away than Eaxia lets me get, no cute little kidlet dragging me away)
Ask me again when I get back, hopefully I'll be able to give a more consise answer!
Tina, player of Michalea