I was asked today, by a friend here, about Burning Man. What is it?

That’s a really hard thing to answer. It’s SO many things.

It is magical – amazing artwork, a 24 hour party for 7 days in the desert, a celebration of being alive – it is adults playing. A place of kindness and acceptance, of community. There is music always, and a city (Black Rock City) that springs up, practically over night, and is home to over 60,000 people from all over the world.

There is always a temple (the most spiritual place I have ever been, and I’ve been in my fair share of churches), and there is always a “Man” at the centre, waiting to be burned and celebrated. Everyone experiences Burning Man differently. I love it so much. The people you meet are amazing.

I will never forget my first time coming to the gate and being welcomed “home”, I was hugged by a group of people I had never met but made me feel like I was a long lost friend. I was home.

There are The 10 Principles of Burning Man which shape the culture and society.

The video I posted the other day of “oh all the places you’ll go” was filmed there.

But here is another one, for those who are interested.

A good friend I met here on tumblr, Anna, (and we took our friendship out into RL) died a few years ago and I wrote about her on the temple walls the first year I was there. After writing how special she was to me, and how much I missed her, I sat with her memory for a bit. Thought about the life changes we saw each other through, the adventure. We were shoulders and mentors to each other.

They burn the temple on the last day. It’s a solemn event. Not the joyous party that the Man burning is. As the evening approached I didn’t want to go.

“I don’t want to watch it burn…” I said to him, and I surprised myself when I started to cry.

“We don’t have to, Dolly. Let’s go out into deep playa and watch the sun set. We’ll bring the frisbee!” S/he said pulling me close.

And so we did. We played well into the dark (it has LEDs) and had random people join us for a few rounds, but mostly it felt like we had the place to ourselves. I can still picture his face in the setting sun, all golden and dust covered. His eyes, bright blue and sparkling, the happiest I have ever known.