The Burning Man festival in Nevada is a week-long event held annually in the Black Rock Desert, where tens of thousands of people gather to create Black Rock City, a temporary metropolis dedicated to community, art, self- expression, and self-reliance
. The festival centers around the symbolic burning of a large wooden effigy called "the Man," which takes place on the Saturday evening before Labor Day
. Burning Man is not a traditional festival with scheduled performers; instead, all art, activities, and events are created by participants themselves. The artwork includes experimental sculptures, interactive installations, performance art, and art cars, all inspired by a different annual theme chosen by the Burning Man Project
. The event emphasizes radical inclusion, gifting, decommodification, radical self-reliance, radical self-expression, communal effort, civic responsibility, leaving no trace, participation, and immediacy-ten principles that guide the community and culture of Burning Man
. The event originated in 1986 on San Francisco's Baker Beach and moved to the Black Rock Desert in 1990 after police intervention prevented the burning of the effigy at the original location
. Since then, it has grown dramatically, with attendance peaking at nearly 80,000 participants by 2019
. After the event, the temporary city is completely dismantled, adhering to the "leave no trace" principle to preserve the desert environment
. In summary, Burning Man is a unique cultural gathering that fosters creativity, community, and self-expression in a remote desert setting, culminating in the symbolic burning of the Man as a unifying ritual
