Pansexual pilgrims and white people with dreadlocks alike will rejoice upon hearing that 2014’s very Burning Man Burning Man non-compulsory art theme is Caravansary. “Qué?”
caravanserai |kare’vanserai, -ri|(US also caravansary )
noun ( pl. caravanserais or caravansaries)
noun ( pl. caravanserais or caravansaries)
- historical an inn with a central courtyard for travellers in the desert regions of Asia or North Africa.
- a group of people travelling together; a caravan.
- [collective noun] a group of fire twirlers; wow, look at that caravanserai of fire twirlers.
Per the Burning Man blog: “This year we will create a caravansary that occupies the crossroads of a dreamland: a bazaar of the bizarre wherein treasures of every sort, from every land and age, flow in and out to be flaunted, lost, exploited and discovered. This is not a tourist destination, but a home for travelers [sic] who come here bearing gifts. Amid the twisting and the turnings of its souk, participants will come upon an inexhaustible array of teeming goods and unexpected services. Anyone may pose as ‘merchant’ here, and anyone may play a ‘customer’, but nothing in this strange emporium shall have a purchase price — no quid, no pro, no quo — no trade at all will be allowed in this ambiguous arcade. According to a rule of desert hospitality, the only thing of value in this ‘marketplace’ will be one’s interaction with a fellow human being.”
As per usual, the annual dress theme will be YOLO and a towering effigy will be erected and incinerated, shining a guiding light that will forevermore steer likeminded weary wayfarers to their new home on the playa; one that will smoulder in the minds’ eye long after the cinders have turned to dus- et cetera.
Burning Man takes place August 25th to September 1st in Black Rock City, Nevada.
via Burning Man
Photo: Hector Mata via Getty
