Top 5 Insane Burning Man Facts

Top 5 Insane Burning Man Facts

Burning Man is an annual festival of radical self-expression in the Black Rock Desert, also known as “thousands of dirty, naked hippies-fest.” Welcome to WatchMojo’s Top 5 Facts, the series where we reveal– you guessed it– five random facts about a fascinating topic. In today’s instalment, we’re counting down the five most insane things we could learn about this deliberately bugged out festival.

#5: Goods are Acquired Through a Gift Economy

The culture of Burning Man, we’re told, is the sort of thing that you just have to experience to understand, and once you do, you’ll never be the same. Given how accustomed most of us are to consumer culture, one of the biggest culture shocks is that there is almost nothing for sale. Participants, or Burners as they’re called, bring all the food and water they’ll need for the week, plus extra things to gift. Unlike in a barter system, these gifts are unconditional, and could be anything from a shiatsu massage to a banana. Of course anything you are gifted, or any garbage you create, must come back out with you, as the fest follows a strict “leave no trace” policy.

#4: Burners Get Around in Art Cars

“Art is our public transportation,” said Larry Harvey, creator of the festival. If you want to bring a car to the Black Rock City, you need to apply for a permit from the Department of Mutant Vehicles, and your ride will need to meet certain standards of Sound, Lighting, Safety, Interactivity and Mutation. Of course, art cars aren’t the only impromptu, interactive canvases. Impressive structures spring up every year, including an actual observatory. The Temple is an annual installation where Burners create memorials for loved ones. At the end of the week, along with the giant wooden man, it’s cathartically burned to the ground.

#3: Activity Titles Are Awesome

Here’s a small sampling of the thousands of radically expressive activities and events at the festival which, in the spirit of gifting, are completely free: "Tea and Porn" "Spankings and cookies", "Angels, Aliens & Outlaws: HipHop Watergun Fight" "Pornogami" "Bad Advice Booth" "Magic Pancake Project"
"Ask a Buddhist" "Human Powered Obstacle Course," “Hot Sex Fire Jam,” "Biochemistry of Psychedelics" "Sketchy the Clown Drinking Contest," "Knife Throwing Class" and, finally, thankfully, "12-Step meetings."

#2: Tech Billionaires Chill in “Entitlement Camps”

The average burner pays a few hundred dollars for a ticket and stays in a camp of people in RV’s, tents, and DIY shelters. In fact, creating your own DIY experience is kind of the whole point. In recent years though, super rich folks– among them silicon valley billionaires like Tesla Motors’ Elon Musk and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos– have been upgrading themselves into exclusive, luxurious air-conditioned accommodations that reportedly cost up to $25,000 per person. Festival organizers have been cracking down on concierge services that offer prepackaged, plug-and-play, luxury Burning Man vacations, saying that it erodes the festival’s culture.

#1 You Might Die, and That’s Your Responsibility

In fact, it says so right on the ticket. It’s not hard to see why: people are exposed to fairly extreme weather , climb on big interactive sculptures, zip around on mobile art, create massive walls of fire– and do most of this on drugs . The specific numbers might be somewhat confounded by the fact that serious accidents are treated off-site in nearby Reno, Nevada, and so Burners who die there aren’t technically dying at the festival. But one of the principles of Burning Man is Radical Self-Reliance; this may account for the fact that on average, there’s less than one death per year, and the majority of the 4000+ injuries reported tend to be simple cuts, blisters and dehydration. It is the desert, after all.


So, how about you? Do you like the idea of Burning Man? For more flaming hot Top 10s and burnt out Top 5s, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com