For this day of memorial, photos from Burning Man’s 2009 Temple
My friend Gary Stevens took these images of the Temple at Burning Man 2009. Once again, people placed pictures, poems, and other tokens to go up in flames on Sunday night.
This year you could walk up several ramps or climb stairs inside the Temple to experience the playa. The Temple also had a flame burning in its core. This view from on high directs you toward the Man and Center Camp.
I have to admit that the Temple didn’t move me as much this year as it has in other years. This year, we visited on Thursday night and it seemed like a disco inside, especially combined with the blaring of the music from the artcars ringing the perimeter. This sense of sacriledge made it easier to leave the Playa earlier than planned, before the Temple burn which I’d planned to attend with my nephew who lost his birth father last year. So when the second day of dust storms hit, we packed up and headed out. I’m sad that I missed that moment of prayer with him, for me, for the world. I did hear that it was a wonderful burn and that people respected the request for quiet from 7-9pm.
(Thanks, Gary, for letting me post some of your photos here today; more to follow of the Man and playa sites along with commentary. If you want copies of these images, please go to his site and ask him. If you’re interested in materials from this site, I appreciate that courtesy as well.)
