Most people don't seem to know about it, but the past 4-5 years the Lamplighters have brought the flame that burns in front of center camp cafe all week out to The Man on burn night....A Jester wrote: I don't know that much about the lamplighters.........what are the other things I might not know about?
in fact.. The Man doesnt raise his arms until the Lamplighters arrive with the One Flame and bring it inside of the Great Circle.. (inside of the L3K lights that forms the outside perimeter)
they carry** the flame in a big 400+ pound 5 foot tall lantern.. on their backs all the way from center camp to the man, then a full circle around the man.... You might have seen the big torches going round the man before he burns the past few years.. This is the luminferous procession.
This One Flame that the Lamplighters bring is what lights up the entire Fire Conclave and... symbolically, The Man.
there are some lamplighters who say that "we light the man"
**
someone wimped out and the lamplighters dont CARRY the huge lantern anymore but push it on a cart... the old timers who had to carry the huge fucker on their backs are displeased and speak of walking bothways uphill to get to the unexperienced...
anyways..
it is a very cool thing to do.. and, uhh not really DPW's department
I knew they were headed to the man, to light him...it seemed to go on for a long long time...eventually they disappeared in the sea of people coming from all points and finally they must have gone through the perimeter...by then I realized I was amongst thousands, and I settled down to watch the man burn 
