What Is Burning Man?

An aerial composite photo of Black Rock City in 2016.

What is Burning Man? That's a really good question, yo.

Arguing over what "That Thing In The Desert" is is a favorite game for many Burners. So for our purposes let's just say that Burning Man is an annual week-long event in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada in which tens of thousands of humans celebrate art, community, and principles like self-expression and self-reliance in a temporary metropolis called Black Rock City. It is the largest Leave No Trace event in the world.

Beyond that, Burning Man is unfortunately pretty hard to pin down. Everybody burns differently! For some it is the wildest party in the world while for others it is recreational moving (in a good way). People attend for every reason from art to community, strange to bucket list.

Every year Burning Man has a new "theme" – anything from "Fertility 2.0" to "Cargo Cult" – which Burners chose to embrace or not. The theme for 2020 is "The Multiverse" and you can make of that what you will.

Some like to arrive at Burning Man knowing as little as possible and the Melons respect that to a degree. At the bare minimum everyone who goes to Burning Man should read the official Survival Guide (the first-timers guide is good, too). All Melons should also be very familiar with everything here on BurningMelon.org.

Want to know more about Burning Man? More (not necessarily required) info below!

• How does Black Rock City work? •

It really is a city!

• What is a day like on the Playa? •

Awesome.

• Who are the people at Burning Man? •

Say hello!

• Shit Burners Say •

"Safety third."