For 24 years, a fire has been kept alive in the desert. Burning Man, started as an act of “radical self-expression,” has grown from a handful of friends standing on a beach to a city state, a mental state, and an experience unlike any other.

The event has certainly changed in the last two decades. It began as a small gathering in San Francisco to celebrate the summer solstice. After a few years, it moved to a dry lake bed in the Nevada desert, quickly gaining followers. By 1997, nearly 10,000 people were attending the event, and it moved to private land. At this time it became incorporated as Black Rock City, LLC. Certain rules were imposed for safety, since the crowd had grown so much: Cars could only go five miles an hour, no fireworks or firearms were allowed, and neither were dogs.

Today’s it’s safe while also having mutated into a cultural event that’ s completely unlike anything else. Anyone who has seen the photos of the event is probably familiar with the general idea: A tall, neon-wrapped figure is set aflame in the middle of northern Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, with crowds of eccentrics, hippies, free-thinkers and freaks reveling on the playa.

But there’s what you’ve seen on TV, and there’s the experience itself. Burning Man has a unique philosophy at its core that had made it a special event. It’s about participation, in the end. It’s not just about flames in the desert, or the glowing, surreal cars, the acrobats and dancers, the spontaneous marches and strange costumes and bizarre art installations. Those are all just perks.

No, what it’s about, at its core, is participation. It’s about getting involved in some way, and interacting with the people who come to the playa. On the Burning Man homepage, you’ll find a story about a person who was intimidated by this. He didn’t have the skills to build or perform art. What could he do? One day, out of the blue, he offered to shave someone sitting nearby. He found he was good at it, and started to perform this service to everyone who happened to cross his path. He didn’t do it for money-in fact, one of the Ten Principles governing the event is a ban on commodification-but simply as a gift of sorts. In that way, he began to participate.

Even if it’s gotten much bigger, and in some senses more organized, Burning Man has preserved a kind of shagginess to it. Attendees can always count on unpredictable happenings and unusual experiences with others. It’s the antithesis of the amusement park. Rather than going from ride to ride, allowing the experiences to happen to you, you seek them out, create them, and interact. There’s a sense of engagement here that is outside of the comfort zone of a lot of people. Still, if you can handle that level of engagement, you’re sure to learn something about yourself and others while on the playa. Want a new experience? Buy Burning Kamagra Gold Man Festival tickets online.

Author Bio: This article is sponsored by StubHub. StubHub.com is a leader in the business of selling Burning Man Festival tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Category: Recreation and Leisure/Entertainment
Keywords: Burning Man Festival, tickets, entertainment, art, culture