An American Diwali

Mojori · Post by **Mojori** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 12:18 am

For me, Burning Man is a sort of an American Diwali (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali) ; it's a festival of lights in the Nevada desert.

Is Burning Man Diwali, American style? While in Black Rock City we kill the demon of soulless consumerism. Through an embrace of the impermanence of things, we come to see never-waning light of the soul within. While on the playa we are released from the prisons of crowded asphalt jungles, narrow thinking, inhibitions and numbing routine. As we come through the Burning Man entrance gates we are welcomed home from our banishment into a world too often rendered barren of any meaning.

And as night falls on our celebration we receive the opportunity, through the eyes of a child, to delight in fireworks, fire art, lasers, lanterns, el-wire and LEDs -- all the while bathing in the memory that, even though it all washes over us and is soon gone, that which enjoyed it remains untouched, undimmed and eternal.

Burning Man can be our own Diwali if we want it to. And it can be our own Diwali with very little effort.

Mojo

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 7:11 am

Is it the same as Vessa in Sri Lanka?

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Tue Jul 06, 2010 9:51 am

Beautiful, Mojiri. Is this the same ritual intent as Diwali?

Mojori · Post by **Mojori** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:43 pm

@ Gyre: Not sure; never heard of Vessa. What have you heard?

@ UglyDougly: Thanks! Yes, I based my comments on the ritual intent of Diwali.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 8:55 pm

Mojori wrote:For me, Burning Man is a sort of an American Diwali

Burning Man can be our own Diwali if we want it to. And it can be our own Diwali with very little effort.

Mojo

How about you stop comparing it to other things and just make it your very own Burning Man experience like the rest of us do?

oh and BTW, Mojo is already here.

Mojori · Post by **Mojori** » Wed Jul 07, 2010 10:27 pm

In addition to reminding me of Diwali, Burning Man is also like the Mose Isely spaceport, the festival of Las Fallas in Valencia, Woodstock, Mardi Gras, a state fair etc. etc. while remaining something completely unique. It doesn't take much effort to let a thing remind one of something else while simultaneously appreciating its uniqueness.

Plus, my Burning Man nickname, Mojo, was given to me by my Camp Stella camp mates. I let it stick as one of the many exercises in letting go that I practice at Burning Man.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:05 am

That's fine, my last nickname was "given" to me also.

Believe me, it was worse than yours.

Mojo is just another person that has been on this board for almost as long as I can remember.

Mojori · Post by **Mojori** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 12:17 am

@ Oneeyeddick: Cool. Maybe I'll modify/change my given nickname to avoid confusion.

The panoply of night time light displays, shows, artwork, choreography etc. combined with the sense of letting go, surrendering, opening up one's mind is something I really appreciate about Burning Man. For me that has been a spiritual experience. That and that incredible wide open space!!!! The whole thing is really expansive in multiple senses of the word.

:)

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:08 am

Vessa is the festival of light, a religious celebration.

Fantastic elaborate paper lanterns and incredible moving electromechanical lighting devices.

I have a clip of about a minute, that is stunning.
It's enough to make me want to go.

Mojori · Post by **Mojori** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:32 am

[quote="gyre"]Vessa is the festival of light, a religious celebration.

Fantastic elaborate paper lanterns and incredible moving electromechanical lighting devices.

I have a clip of about a minute, that is stunning.
It's enough to make me want to go.[/quote]

Intriguing. Sounds like a few parallels to Burning Man exist in the Vessa festival. Would love to see your clip.

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 1:35 am

Mojori, go to your "profile" page and enable your BBCode so that your quote thing works properly.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 6:37 am

It's from the Faces of Culture series, The Arts episode.
It runs right after a beautiful shot of a sand painting being done.
David Carradine narrates.

http://www.ket.org/tvschedules/series.e ... hp?id=FACR

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Thu Jul 08, 2010 10:09 am

Obon Matsuri is something like that, except like the Temple it focuses on honoring the Dead.

Mojori · Post by **Mojori** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:32 am

@ Gyre: Thanks but couldn't see the Vessa clip. Perhaps I misunderstood your reference.

@ Ugly Dougly: Wow, never even heard of Obon Matsuri. Very interesting. Who knew?

@ Oneeyeddick: Thanks!

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 2:36 am

I don't have a link to it online.

I have a physical copy.

Mojori · Post by **Mojori** » Sun Jul 11, 2010 1:27 pm

gyre wrote:I don't have a link to it online.

I have a physical copy.

No problemo. Thanks for the interesting link.

BTW, I find myself thinking lately of that SINGULAR night time experience of wandering about on the playa seeing one unexpected light display after another -- both in the foreground and the distance. Priceless!!!!

An American Diwali

An American Diwali

Re: An American Diwali