Circling the burning man?

Lifeisshort · Post by **Lifeisshort** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 4:06 am

Question for all- Is it a tradition to circle the man's burning remains after he falls? In previous years once the man fell, the crowds rushed forward and began to sing, dance, hoot, holler and cirlce the buring remains. This year as I tried to get to the man (to throw my symbolic object into the flames) the masses were not moving or at least not initally. Did any one else notice this?

oneeyeddick · Post by **oneeyeddick** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:33 am

Yep, I sure did notice this.
I blame the extra noobs for this.
They better get with the program next year !!

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 9:35 am

Lifeisshort wrote:Question for all- Is it a tradition to circle the man's burning remains after he falls? In previous years once the man fell, the crowds rushed forward and began to sing, dance, hoot, holler and cirlce the buring remains. This year as I tried to get to the man (to throw my symbolic object into the flames) the masses were not moving or at least not initally. Did any one else notice this?

Mob mentality when you are expecting a cogent plan.

hsdavis · Post by **hsdavis** » Sat Dec 15, 2007 12:14 pm

There was a gaggle of Black Rock Rangers at the edge of the crowd (successfully) requesting that no one circle the Man until the structure came down. After the Man collapsed, all heck (yes, heck) broke loose.

rane · Post by **rane** » Sun Dec 16, 2007 8:56 am

its true. i was there :shock:

Lifeisshort · Post by **Lifeisshort** » Mon Dec 17, 2007 10:14 am

What!!!! thats outrageous. Their badges should be revoked immediately!. Circleing the man like a bunch drunken paegans is half the fun.

Lifeisshort · Post by **Lifeisshort** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 2:25 pm

So, just to make sure I understand this... Once the man falls the circling tradition still on?

Kinetik V · Post by **Kinetik V** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 6:14 pm

You have expectations of anything at Burning Man, especially the mentality of a large crowd?

Amazing!

BTW, don't circle the fire. Walk through the fire. In Teva sandals no less. Transcendence is beautiful...not everyone can do it though.

Jamm'in · Post by **Jamm'in** » Tue Dec 25, 2007 7:52 pm

I was there once it fell, a group of us (6) tried to stay together. It lasted about 2 minutes and it was massessss!! We were right in front, almost getting pushed in, when all of a sudden, this big wooden geometric sphere came rolling in. Everyone was hauling over there heads, passing it from person to person. When it got to the edge, bicycle hanging from inside, and all. They could barely throw a quarter of the work in??? Lets see some team work in 08' huh!? ............Was anyone else there?

Post by **AntiM** » Wed Dec 26, 2007 7:16 am

Lifeisshort wrote:So, just to make sure I understand this... Once the man falls the circling tradition still on?

Yes, once the man falls, the circling begins. He had to be pulled down this year with a cable, he was staying upright too long. The Rangers have always held a perimeter until the structure was down, that's a BLM requirement. Always except for last year. There were fire performers in the inner circle and the crowd could see them and pushed forward; I don't know if the rangers got overrun or if the signal to drop the perimeter was given too early. I do know the base of the man was still up when the crowd came through and this caused much concern among the safety types. I also know there's enough rangers here to correct me if I have some of this wrong. Please do!

BurningGirl · Post by **BurningGirl** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:03 pm

Always except for last year. There were fire performers in the inner circle and the crowd could see them and pushed forward

I was one of the performers in the inner circle - they usually make us push back to the edge of the crowd but that year they didn't - I don't know why but we took advantage and stayed as close as we could - we couldn't help ourselves! It was amazing. A couple of people in our group took off and started running the circle - some peeps from the crowd followed. I think I even saw a ranger join. There was damn good circling that year - it was invigorating to watch - although I'm usually the safety bitch of my group.

The first people in have to be the ones to start it I think, then everyone follows. Spread the word - educate the noobs - start running! Those that know will follow and those that don't will learn.

wedeliver · Post by **wedeliver** » Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:29 pm

BurningGirl wrote:...
The first people in have to be the ones to start it I think, then everyone follows. Spread the word - educate the noobs - start running! Those that know will follow and those that don't will learn.

It's BurningMan, If you see someone running, run the opposit direction.. now we're talkin'

myredcarpet · Post by **myredcarpet** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 4:20 pm

I am a noob, but it just felt like instinct that made me want to run around the fallen man. Determined to be one of the closest, we inched our way to the edges of the inner circle and once the first renagades started breaking loose of the barrier, we RAN until fire burned in our lungs!!

While out there, someone decided to throw a bottle of ether or something into the flames which promptly exploded over our heads.. Anyone else that was nearby me that remembers this??

BAS · Post by **BAS** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 5:44 pm

Are you talking about the first or second time the Man burned?

(Oh. Wait. I wasn't there in 2007... never mind.)

dancemaker · Post by **dancemaker** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:30 pm

From where I was at around 6oclock it didn't really happen..... the man fell, the crowd never budged. I am not a big fan of running around the man so it was no big deal to me.

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Wed Jan 16, 2008 3:48 pm

And no shoving! Hey!

Lifeisshort · Post by **Lifeisshort** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:23 pm

I love the energy you feel from fellow burners at the moment the man falls. The air is electric, we seem to become one as we rejoyce and celebrate this amazing experience.

The circling motion in years past has started almost spontaniously. It was at this moment at my first burn that I knew I found my community... For those of us that are "Lifers" we need to ensure that the aspect of the Burn we charish are not watered down or worse eliminated as the event grows!

erri2000 · Post by **erri2000** » Fri Jan 25, 2008 7:34 pm

The reason why I did not run to the man after it burned in 2007 is because it was to timed out.

Personally I was to busy watching the cables that where pulling the man down opposed to the man burning.

Plus if it was tradition then why wasn't there anyone's lead to follow?

DaftBrian · Post by **DaftBrian** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 11:41 am

Anyone else remember that explosion while the fire started making it's way to the man's hood? Pretty cool, accidental? Didn't even scratch the surface that was Crude Awakening tho..pretty cool to see the percussion wave run through the dust!

blu_rhino · Post by **blu_rhino** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 12:33 pm

we circled it in 98 but in 99 there were fireworks going off....left overs from the man or someone throwing them in....either way I didn't feel like getting hit in the head.

dancing and jumping around the man in one large mass of bodies was an amazing experience. I felt soooo conected.

Lifeisshort · Post by **Lifeisshort** » Mon Jan 28, 2008 8:16 pm

live on the edge. Hell... the back of your ticket says you may die!

halfway · Post by **halfway** » Mon Mar 03, 2008 4:00 pm

Jamm'in wrote:I was there once it fell, a group of us (6) tried to stay together. It lasted about 2 minutes and it was massessss!! We were right in front, almost getting pushed in, when all of a sudden, this big wooden geometric sphere came rolling in. Everyone was hauling over there heads, passing it from person to person. When it got to the edge, bicycle hanging from inside, and all. They could barely throw a quarter of the work in??? Lets see some team work in 08' huh!? ............Was anyone else there?

I think I was one of the crazies pushing that sphere along. I have no idea where it came from, but all of a sudden there was a big wooden ball in front of me which obviously needed some warmth. I remember hollering "huge ball comin' through!" or some such nonsense. When we got it to the fire, one of the man's support logs blocked the path and it took several people to finally push it in.

Also, hello :) This is my first post! I've been a lurker for a while, but your comment struck a chord with me. cheers

Ugly Dougly · Post by **Ugly Dougly** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 1:51 pm

The hardcore pyros were whacking off at this point.

Rat Bastard · Post by **Rat Bastard** » Mon Mar 17, 2008 9:24 pm

DaftBrian wrote:Anyone else remember that explosion while the fire started making it's way to the man's hood? Pretty cool, accidental? Didn't even scratch the surface that was Crude Awakening tho..pretty cool to see the percussion wave run through the dust!

You mean this lil pop of fire?

Lifeisshort · Post by **Lifeisshort** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:16 pm

Keep the circling tradition alive in 2008. The newbies need to be broken in properly:)

Is that picture real?

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Wed Mar 19, 2008 6:38 pm

Yes the picture is real.

You can't stop circling because it is human nature. Don't worry.

Lifeisshort · Post by **Lifeisshort** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:02 am

Keeping this post alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TomServo · Post by **TomServo** » Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:31 am

This year we are required to square the man..in a perfect square. Fuck circles!..they're for hippies!

spyral · Post by **spyral** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:54 am

Plus. The masses were going the wrong way!

Cassidy · Post by **Cassidy** » Thu Jul 10, 2008 1:16 pm

"is that picture real?"

tsk

Circling the burning man?

Circling the burning man?

Re: Circling the burning man?

didn't notice

That little "pop" that occured while the man start

Re: That little "pop" that occured while the man s