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Burningman 2003....
The creation and destruction of what for a time was Nevada's seventh largest
city was part of the annual ritual that evolved from a spontaneous San Francisco
beach celebration of the 1986 summer solstice.
That year, an eight-foot wooden effigy was burned. The one ignited late Saturday
towered eight stories: a 40-foot stylized wooden man highlighted in blue neon,
atop a 40-foot-tall Aztec-style wood and canvas pyramid.
The torching ceremony included dozens of dancers, twirling flaming hoops and
chains to the frantic beat of dozens of drums. Flame-belching bicycles and
fantastic vehicles passed as neon-green laser beams crisscrossed overhead.
Organizers of the seven-square-mile encampment intended this year's "beyond
belief" theme to reflect humankind's search for a deeper, spiritual
meaning, though on a "playful" scale.
Reflecting the Burning Man's counterculture, techno-edge roots, most of the
camps poked fun at organized religion, and many tend toward more sensual
diversions often involving body paint or bondage.
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