Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man

«Every summer during the week leading up to Labor Day weekend, tens of thousands of people from around the globe descend on the Black Rock Desert, a desolate and otherwise obscure corner of northwestern Nevada whose principal feature is an ancient and absolutely barren plain of crackled clay known as the playa.» — Abre la introducción situando el festival: cada verano, en la semana previa al Labor Day, decenas de miles de personas llegan al Black Rock Desert de Nevada

«Yet among the many frameworks within which this event can be situated—arts celebration, social experiment, or orgiastic revelry—one of the experiences that it fulfills for many participants is ritual.» — Gilmore enumera los marcos en que cabe el evento —celebración artística, experimento social, jolgorio orgiástico— y sostiene que para muchos participantes lo que cumple es el ritual

«Even thornier is the notion of somehow separating “spirituality” from “religion,” given the mutually self-referential and ultimately synonymous nature of the various ideas implied by these terms.» — Señala que separar *spirituality* de *religion* es lo más espinoso, porque las ideas que los dos términos implican son mutuamente autorreferenciales y en último término sinónimas

«There is difficulty too in labeling this social phenomenon a “movement,” as that term can imply something far more unified than the loosely aggregate affinities into which the so-called pastiche or cafeteria spiritualities of “new age” seekers, “neo”-Pagan devotees, Buddhist dabblers, and yoga practitioners (along with myriad other communities» — Objeta que llamar *movimiento* al fenómeno sugiere más unidad de la que hay entre las afinidades sueltas de buscadores *new age*, devotos neopaganos, aficionados al budismo y practicantes de yoga (el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana; la frase sigue en la 16 con *and spiritual ideologies) are usually, and sometimes uncharitably, lumped*)

«Yet these critical precautions aside, “spiritual but not religious” is a commonly used turn of phrase and one that many Burners themselves employ.» — Pese a sus reservas de método, Gilmore conserva la fórmula porque es la que los propios Burners usan

«For these individuals, this outlook implies a quest for spiritual experience and expression, and an often-ritualized connection with “something more,” that takes place apart from most traditional religious institutions.» — Define qué implica esa mirada para quienes la sostienen: una búsqueda de experiencia espiritual y una conexión a menudo ritualizada con *algo más*, fuera de la mayoría de las instituciones religiosas tradicionales

«This phenomenon could be said to exemplify what the anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss famously termed bricolage, a process by which we cobble together our belief systems about the world based on the sensory, cognitive, cultural, and historical ingredients available to us, or in Lévi-Strauss’s terms, by “whatever is at hand.”» — Toma de Claude Lévi-Strauss el *bricolage* para nombrar el modo en que el festival ensambla sus sistemas de creencia con los ingredientes sensoriales, cognitivos, culturales e históricos a la mano

«It is also akin to what some scholars have characterized as syncretism, a term originally applied—often disparagingly—to the merging of two different religious traditions to create a third tradition, although at Burning Man the sources are as infinite as the bounds of human culture, history, and imagination, and the result is unmistakably indeterminate and dynamic.» — Acepta el parentesco con el sincretismo, pero acota que en el festival las fuentes son tan infinitas como la cultura, la historia y la imaginación, y el resultado es indeterminado y dinámico

«To borrow yet another term, this one from the electronic music and deejay cultures that intersect with the festival, Burning Man is a mash-up, an idiom that refers to the mixture of two or more popular songs from different genres to form a new polyphonic creation.» — Añade un tercer nombre tomado de las culturas de música electrónica y de los deejays que se cruzan con el festival: el *mash-up*, mezcla de canciones de géneros distintos en una creación polifónica nueva

«It must be acknowledged that many participants and observers alike deny that Burning Man has any spiritual or other redeeming qualities whatsoever.» — Consigna la negativa dentro del propio campo: muchos participantes y observadores niegan que el festival tenga cualidad espiritual alguna

«Certainly there are thousands of participants—as I discuss at greater length in the pages that follow—who state emphatically that Burning Man does not entail any sense of individual or collective spirituality per se, although many of these individuals may still engage in a ritualized quest for self-discovery while electing not to cloak such experiences in mystical terms.» — Matiza que esos miles de participantes pueden seguir metidos en una búsqueda ritualizada de sí mismos aunque elijan no vestirla de términos místicos

«Furthermore, many would argue that Burning Man is merely a grand party—an excuse for debauchery and a license for transgressive behavior that is disconnected from any overt sense of spirituality, or any occurrence of significant change in one’s life, community, or culture.» — Recoge la objeción de que el evento es solo una fiesta grande, licencia para la transgresión y desconectada de cualquier espiritualidad o cambio

«Yet while the event is undeniably rife with opportunities for bacchanalian and hedonistic indulgence, this aspect of Burning Man need not preclude its spiritual, introspective, and transformative qualities.» — Responde que el desenfreno báquico y hedonista no excluye las cualidades espirituales, introspectivas y transformadoras del evento

«I should also state at this juncture that I have chosen to forgo a specific examination of the consumption of either licit or illicit consciousness» — Declara qué deja fuera: renuncia a examinar el consumo de sustancias —lícitas o ilícitas— que alteran la consciencia en el festival; la cita se corta en el guion de fin de renglón y la frase sigue *altering substances at Burning Man*

«I therefore concluded early in the research process that although there may indeed be some connection between the use of substances that have been called “entheogenic”—that is, engendering an awareness of God or the divine —and participants’ reports of transformative or spiritual experiences in this context, a focus on these questions would shift attention away from the inquiries into ritual and cultural performance with which I am» — Razona la exclusión: aunque admite que pueda haber conexión entre las sustancias llamadas *entheogenic* —las que engendran conciencia de Dios o de lo divino— y los relatos de experiencia transformadora, atender a eso desviaría la mirada de la indagación en el ritual y la performance cultural; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue en la 18 con *primarily interested here and that I find ultimately more compelling*

«I entered into Burning Man as a participant first and as a participant observer second, and this insider position has had inevitable and interesting consequences for shaping the perspectives that are indelibly stamped on this text.» — Declara su posición: entró al festival primero como participante y solo después como observadora participante, y esa posición de adentro marca las perspectivas del libro

«For a brief time Black Rock City—or BRC, as this settlement is sometimes called—becomes the fifth largest metropolis in the state of Nevada as participants— collectively referred to as “Burners”—design, construct, and dwell in thousands of makeshift shelters and tents.» — Mide el fenómeno: durante unos días Black Rock City es la quinta metrópoli del estado de Nevada, construida y habitada por los participantes que se llaman a sí mismos *Burners*

«At the center of it all stands a forty-foot sculpture called the Burning Man—a towering wooden latticework figure perched atop a fanciful platform, lit with multicolored shafts of neon, and filled with explosives designed to detonate in a carefully orchestrated sequence when the figure meets its fiery demise at the festival’s climax.» — Describe el objeto central: una figura de madera de doce metros, iluminada con neón y cargada de explosivos calculados para detonar en secuencia cuando arde en el clímax del festival

«Ostensibly genderless and void of any specifically stated meaning, this effigy—affectionately called “the Man”—retains the same general humanoid shape and appearance from year to year and is ultimately offered up in blazing sacrifice with each annual iteration of the event» — Consigna dos rasgos que el propio evento atribuye a la efigie: sin género declarado y vacía de significado enunciado, y ofrecida en sacrificio ardiente cada año

«But these regulations were not yet in place, and one night I found myself tagging along with my campmates as they loaded pickup trucks with tanks of propane, a small catapult launch, and a number of guns and drove a few miles from camp for their annual “wild propane hunt”—skeet shooting one-gallon tanks of propane.» — Narra la *wild propane hunt* de sus primeros años, con camionetas cargadas de tanques, una catapulta y armas, antes de que el crecimiento obligara a regular

«I had never before held a gun, and this experience caused me to challenge my preconceived limitations and enabled me to face one of my fears head-on.» — Lee su propio episodio como el tipo de confrontación con el miedo que después analizará en los Burners

«One could be legitimately concerned that my “native” status has resulted in an overfamiliarity with my subject and that I might be too close to the material to be able to analyze it empirically and rigorously.» — Se plantea la objeción de método antes que nadie: su condición de *nativa* pudo darle demasiada familiaridad con el objeto

«However, once I began undertaking formal research in 2001, my extensive acquaintance with the event came to be a benefit in terms of gaining a somewhat more distanced perspective.» — Responde que al empezar la investigación formal en 2001 esa familiaridad se volvió ventaja para tomar distancia

«I am not alone in this; many longtime Burners have begun to experience burnout, resulting in extensive and ongoing internal critiques of the event.» — Consigna el *burnout* de los Burners veteranos como origen de las críticas internas y continuas al evento

«But furthermore, it had become more apparent that most participants, including me, were on some level merely playing out a well-defined set of themes and narratives.» — Enuncia una reserva sobre su propio campo: los participantes, ella incluida, representan en algún nivel un repertorio de temas y narrativas ya definido

«Data! The inclusion of these icons in this setting demonstrated the medical team’s awareness not only that such spiritually resonant images might be comforting to those facing physical and emotional trials but also that this was a doctrinally diverse community.» — Lee los iconos religiosos colgados en la carpa médica como señal de que el equipo sabía que atendía a una comunidad doctrinalmente diversa

«In reviewing my experiences at the festival, it is clear that many of the questions explored here—transformation, spirituality, and ritual—were already becoming apparent from my very first day on the playa and that I too participate in the cultural themes and streams that emerge through the event.» — Cierra su relato de llegada diciendo que las preguntas del libro —transformación, espiritualidad, ritual— ya asomaban en su primer día en la playa

«Yet while this is undeniably my story of Burning Man, it is by no means mine alone.» — Acota el alcance de la primera persona: el relato es suyo y a la vez no es solo suyo

«One anonymous voice unknowingly gave me the gift of the title of this book. In 2002 I was told of a man overheard in the midst of the ecstatic and chaotic moment following the flaming collapse of the Man shouting, “Theater! Theater!” My sources puzzled over this for a moment: was this simply an obscure commentary on the spectacle of it all? Then they realized that he was, in fact, shouting “Theater!” in a rather “crowded fire.”» — Cuenta el origen del título: en 2002 le refirieron a un hombre que, tras el derrumbe en llamas del Man, gritaba *¡Teatro!* en medio de un incendio concurrido

«Beyond the realms of personal experience, my fieldwork included dozens of formal semistructured interviews and hundreds of informal conversations about participants’ perceptions of and experiences at the festival.» — Enumera el material de campo: decenas de entrevistas semiestructuradas formales y cientos de conversaciones informales sobre las percepciones y experiencias de los participantes

«The survey generated over three hundred responses, and I followed up one-on-one with a handful of respondents.» — Declara el tamaño de la encuesta en línea: más de trescientas respuestas, con seguimiento uno a uno a unos cuantos

«Because my interests lay primarily in individual and collective experiences, my intent in the interviews and surveys was qualitative rather than quantitative, although I did discern and tabulate some common themes.» — Acota el estatuto de sus cifras: la intención de entrevistas y encuestas fue cualitativa, no cuantitativa, aunque tabuló algunos temas comunes

«Burning Man’s ritual events also generate a sense of communitas, a key reason so many people attend—and do so repeatedly—although as the festival has matured many find that this communitas has become routinized.» — Aplica la categoría y a la vez la acota: los ritos del festival generan *communitas*, pero con la madurez del evento muchos la hallan rutinizada

«Burners’ narratives at times refer directly to Turner’s ideas, indicating that these concepts have permeated popular culture and now recursively reflect and shape our cultural conceptions of what the categories “ritual,” “religion,” and “spirituality” should be, thus outlining the context in which this event has come, for some, to constitute an alternative to conventional religions.» — Señala el circuito de ida y vuelta: los relatos de los Burners citan a Turner, prueba de que esos conceptos permearon la cultura popular y ahora moldean lo que se espera de *ritual*, *religión* y *espiritualidad*

«I thereby seek to demonstrate that Burning Man not only is a space in which to ritualize alternative and individualized constructions of spirituality but also calls into question both academic and popular culture assumptions about what constitutes religion, ritual, and spirituality in the first place.» — Enuncia el doble objetivo del libro: mostrar el festival como espacio de ritualización de espiritualidades individualizadas y poner en cuestión los supuestos —académicos y populares— sobre qué cuenta como religión, ritual y espiritualidad

«This book aims in part to paint a comprehensive and definitive ethnographic portrait of the Burning Man festival.» — Declara su ambición etnográfica: un retrato del festival que se propone comprensivo y definitivo

«My intent here is to use these and other theories of ritual, religion, and culture as frameworks for thinking about the ritualized behaviors that proliferate at Burning Man, looking to what they say (or do not say) when put in conversation with this event.» — Fija el estatuto que da a la teoría ritual: marcos para pensar los comportamientos ritualizados del festival, atendiendo a lo que dicen y a lo que no dicen al ponerlos en conversación con él

«Chapter 5 interrogates Burning Man’s complex relationship with the mass media as a critical space for cultural production and negotiation, looking at how this has shaped experiences and understandings of the event.» — Anuncia el capítulo quinto: los medios de masas como espacio crítico de producción y negociación cultural que moldeó la experiencia misma del evento

«Chapter 6 concludes the book with a summary of my basic arguments by looking outward to the ways in which the cultural, religious, and ritual discourses that are framed, constructed, and performed through Burning Man may have significance for informing and transforming a wider social context.» — Anuncia el capítulo sexto: los discursos culturales, religiosos y rituales construidos en el festival mirados hacia afuera, por lo que puedan significar para un contexto social más amplio

«What compels people from all over the world to create an ephemeral city in the middle of nowhere? How is this remarkably enduring community forged from a temporary gathering of strangers? What are the historical and cultural contexts of this event, and what is its significance for our global society? Finally, what is it about this journey that engenders a sense of transformation for many participants, and how do they bring these experiences home? This book seeks to answer these and other questions by telling the story of Burning Man.» — Cierra la introducción con las preguntas que el libro se propone responder: qué empuja a levantar una ciudad efímera en medio de la nada, cómo se forja una comunidad duradera con extraños, cuáles son los contextos históricos del evento y qué en ese viaje engendra sensación de transformación

«For his part, Harvey insists that he had no consciously preconceived ideas about the meaning of the Burning Man, let alone about starting a global movement.» — Consigna la posición del fundador: según Gilmore, Larry Harvey insiste en que no tuvo idea preconcebida alguna sobre el significado del Burning Man ni sobre fundar un movimiento

«But this has not prevented observers and participants from ascribing a fanciful array of intentions and interpretations to the event’s origins.» — Señala que la ausencia de intención declarada no impidió que observadores y participantes atribuyeran al origen del evento un surtido de intenciones e interpretaciones

«One of the most widely circulated legends surrounding the festival’s inception contends that Larry Harvey was motivated by the demise of an important romantic relationship, a tale that has become a frequently repeated and occasionally distorted media myth:» — Registra como leyenda —*mito mediático* repetido y a veces distorsionado— la versión de que Harvey fundó el evento por el fin de una relación amorosa

«Undaunted, Harvey teamed up with a group called the San Francisco Cacophony Society—a loose-knit confederation of self-proclaimed “free spirits” and “pranksters” who orchestrated absurd public performance happenings and theatrical private parties.» — Traza la genealogía organizativa del evento: la San Francisco Cacophony Society, confederación de *free spirits* y *pranksters* que montaban performances públicas absurdas y fiestas privadas teatrales

«As Harvey stated many years later, “The Burning Man’s famous for our never having attributed meaning to him, and that’s done on purpose. He is a blank. His face is literally a blank shoji-like screen, and the idea, of course, is that you have to project your own meaning onto him. You’re responsible for the spectacle.”» — Cita a Harvey sobre la vacuidad deliberada de la efigie: es un blanco, su cara es literalmente una pantalla *shoji*, y el espectador ha de proyectar en ella su propio significado

«remaining a blank canvas—an open signifier devoid of explicit or fixed meaning—the amorphous image continues to be available for multiple interpretations, as individuals are invited to transfer their own impressions and feelings onto it.» — Gilmore lee esa vacuidad como significante abierto, sin sentido explícito ni fijo, disponible para interpretaciones múltiples

«Members of the Cacophony Society had already been attending and helping to spread the word about Burning Man for a couple of years, and with the organizational support of these Cacophonists—in particular, John Law and Michael Michael—it was determined to take the Man out to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert to meet its fiery destiny.» — Fecha y nombra el traslado al desierto: con el apoyo de los cacofonistas John Law y Michael Michael se decidió llevar al Man al Black Rock Desert de Nevada

«It is not without significance that deserts have a long history as loci of transformative possibilities—from Moses to Muhammed and from Christ to Carlos Castaneda—and Burning Man plays to these ideational sensibilities.» — Enlaza el escenario con un linaje de desiertos como lugares de transformación —de Moisés a Mahoma y de Cristo a Carlos Castaneda— con el que el festival juega

«Perhaps one of the reasons Burning Man was able to thrive in this location during the early years is the fact that there was a certain sympathy (and a shared enthusiasm for recreational firearms) between the eccentric and reclusive residents of this remote high desert and the aging punks and pranksters of the Cacophony Society, both groups identifying themselves as cultural outsiders.» — Propone una razón del arraigo local: la simpatía —y el gusto compartido por las armas recreativas— entre los residentes del alto desierto y los punks y bromistas ya mayores de la Cacophony Society, unos y otros teniéndose por forasteros culturales

«In Cacophony, we called these adventures a “Zone Trip.” The Zone was some other dimensional place, it could be the past, the future, something weird, it didn’t matter. We were going there, and we would challenge it and be better for it» — Según Gilmore, uno de los viajeros originales describe así el *Zone Trip* de la Cacophony Society: la Zona era otro lugar dimensional —el pasado, el futuro, algo raro— al que se iba a desafiarla y salir mejor de ella

«We all got out of our cars as one member drew a long line on the desert floor creating what we accepted as a “Zone gateway.” This was one of our Cacophony rituals, for the zone as we defined it took on many forms, it could be a weird house, a particularly strange neighborhood (like Covina, CA), or a desolate, deserted warehouse. Today it was the base of a mountain range in Northern Nevada. We crossed the line and knew we were definitely not in Kansas anymore.» — El mismo testimonio consigna el rito de paso que abrió el traslado al desierto: un miembro trazó una línea larga en el suelo como *Zone gateway* y todos la cruzaron

«As these intrepid adventurers literally stepped across a threshold from one Zone into another, they performed a ritual passage into what Turner and van Gennep termed a liminal realm—a conceptual zone “betwixt» — Gilmore lee ese cruce como paso ritual a lo que Turner y van Gennep llamaron reino liminal; la cita se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue en la 34 con *and between” the everyday and the extraordinary, the sacred and the mundane, where transformation and the unexpected can occur*

«Participants would eventually turn to another Zone metaphor, specifically, the concept of the Temporary Autonomous Zone (or TAZ), proposed by the cultural critic Hakim Bey: “The TAZ is like an uprising which does not engage directly with the State, a guerilla operation which liberates an area (of land, of time, of imagination) and then dissolves itself to reform elsewhere/elsewhen before the State can crush it. Because the State is concerned primarily with Simulation rather than substance, the TAZ can ‘occupy’ these areas clandestinely and carry on its festal purposes for quite a while in relative peace.”» — Consigna la segunda metáfora de Zona que adoptaron los participantes: la Temporary Autonomous Zone del crítico cultural Hakim Bey, alzamiento que no confronta al Estado sino que libera un área y se disuelve para rehacerse en otro sitio

«First published in the early 1990s, just as Burning Man was itself beginning to take off, this concept quickly caught on among Burners, despite Bey’s original intention that “the TAZ be taken more as an essay (‘attempt’), a suggestion, almost a poetic fantasy,” rather than a specifically instituted (and institutionalized) reality such as Burning Man has become.» — Acota el préstamo: Bey quería que la TAZ se leyera como ensayo, sugerencia o fantasía poética, no como realidad instituida e institucionalizada

«A somewhat similar concept in this regard is that of the heterotopia — a term coined by the philosopher Michel Foucault to contrast with the literal “no place” of a utopia.» — Trae la heterotopía de Michel Foucault como concepto vecino, por contraste con el *no lugar* literal de la utopía

«Despite its clear symbolic references to ancient transformative rites, the festival remains explicitly unaffiliated with any religious movement» — Sostiene que, pese a sus referencias simbólicas a ritos transformativos antiguos, el festival permanece explícitamente sin afiliación religiosa

«Instead, both participants and organizers consistently reject any one fixed meaning for the event, locating it outside the realm of doctrine and dogma.» — Registra el rechazo compartido por participantes y organizadores a cualquier significado fijo, que sitúa al evento fuera del ámbito de la doctrina y el dogma

«But these refusals of canonical significance notwithstanding, neither the Burning Man festival nor the effigy for which it is named emerged out of a vacuum.» — Objeta a la vez su propio hallazgo: negar significados canónicos no vuelve al festival ni a su efigie un fenómeno surgido del vacío

«Julius Caesar wrote of such practices nearly two thousand years ago in his tale of the conquest of Gaul, although corroborating archaeological or other evidence remains ambiguous at best.» — Mide el respaldo de la analogía con las efigies sacrificiales: lo que Julio César escribió sobre esas prácticas en la conquista de la Galia se queda, dice, sin respaldo arqueológico firme

«Some believe that echoes of these bonfires can be found in popular events such as the English tradition of Guy Fawkes night, in which effigies of an Elizabethan-era Catholic rebel—the “Guy”—are set ablaze in bonfires throughout the Commonwealth in early November— although most scholars hold that the origins of this celebration are coincidental.» — Consigna la creencia popular de que la noche de Guy Fawkes prolonga esas hogueras y, sin armonizar, la posición contraria de la mayoría de los estudiosos, para quienes el origen es coincidente

«However, records indicate that the Santa Fe Fiesta as currently celebrated began in the early twentieth century, and the figure of Zozobra was the brainchild of the artist Will Shuster, who first devised the puppet in 1924.» — Data el Zozobra de la Santa Fe Fiesta en 1924, obra del artista Will Shuster, contra la antigüedad que se le supone

«Any connection of Burning Man to “Wicker Man” in fact or fiction —or, for that matter, to Guy Fawkes, giant figures burned in India, or any other folk source—is purely fortuitous.» — Cita la posición de los organizadores sobre los parecidos con el Wicker Man, Guy Fawkes o las figuras gigantes quemadas en la India: cualquier conexión es fortuita

«Larry informs us that he had not seen this film [The Wicker Man] in 1986 when he first burned the Man. However, while listening to the sound track of a video made in 1988 at Baker Beach, he did hear a bystander shout, “Wicker Man.” Provoked by this, it occurred to him that “Lumber Man” would be a more appropriate, though not particularly inspiring, name. He decided to call the figure (which had been anonymous) “Burning Man,” and so it has remained.» — Reproduce la declaración de los organizadores sobre el nombre: Harvey no había visto la película en 1986, oyó a un espectador gritar *Wicker Man* en un video de 1988 y bautizó así la figura, que hasta entonces era anónima

«Burning Man takes its place in a lineage stretching back at least as far as the European medieval pilgrimage and carnival traditions and including the popular Christian camp revival meetings of the eighteenth-and nineteenth-century “Great Awakenings” in the United States, along with much more recent events like 1969’s Woodstock concert.» — Inscribe el evento en un linaje declarado: peregrinación y carnaval medievales europeos, las *camp revival meetings* de los Grandes Despertares y, más cerca, Woodstock

«Imagined Celtic wicker men are far from the only effigies that are central to carnivalesque events. For example, in northern India during September and October numerous regional pageants, celebrated in conjunction with the annual festival of Dussehra, reenact the epic Ramayana in which the divine Lord Rama rescues his wife, Sita, from the clutches of the demon Ravana. Highlighted by several daylong “Ram-lila”—or plays about Rama—these festivals typically culminate in spectacular conflagrations of Ravana effigies, often towering over one hundred feet high.» — Compara con las efigies del Dussehra en el norte de la India, donde los *Ram-lila* culminan quemando figuras de Ravana de más de treinta metros

«These various camp-out festivals are in many ways radically different from one another in their thematic or aesthetic orientations, as well as in their outlooks on commercial activity and expectations of participants, yet they also share similarities and cultural legacies.» — Consigna a la vez la diferencia y el parentesco entre los festivales de acampada: distintos en orientación temática, estética y en su postura ante la actividad comercial, y aun así emparentados

«The Suicide Club recommended that one should “get all worldly affairs in order, to enter into the world of Chaos, cacophony and dark saturnalia, to live each day as if it were the last.”» — Cita el lema del Suicide Club, antecesor de la Cacophony Society: poner en orden los asuntos mundanos para entrar en el mundo del caos, la cacofonía y la saturnal oscura, y vivir cada día como si fuera el último

«The intention here is that these world leaders should let go of “dull care” for the duration of the two-week event.» — Explica el sentido declarado del rito de la *Cremation of Care* del Bohemian Club: que los líderes mundiales suelten el *dull care* mientras dura el encuentro de dos semanas

«The group’s annual July encampment in the Bohemian Grove opens with a mock-Druid rite known as the “Cremation of Care,” in which a humanoid effigy (“Care”) is sacrificially burned by costumed “priests.”» — Describe el rito con que abre el campamento de julio del Bohemian Club: la *Cremation of Care*, donde *sacerdotes* disfrazados queman en sacrificio una efigie humanoide llamada Care

«Contemporary events such as these, each in its own way, take some inspiration from romantic and exoticized ideals of a bygone era, and there are doubtless many more such festive events featuring sacrificial effigies and bonfires across cultures and histories, too numerous to cover thoroughly here.» — Acota el valor de todas estas comparaciones: los eventos contemporáneos se inspiran en ideales románticos y exotizados de una era pasada, y hay muchos más de los que cabe cubrir

«But the obvious parallels notwithstanding, Harvey and his fellow organizers have repeatedly emphasized that their Burning Man is not to be taken as an explicit re-creation of any particular mythological» — Consigna la insistencia de Harvey y los demás organizadores en que su Burning Man no se tome por recreación explícita de ningún símbolo ni rito mitológico particular; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase sigue en la 37 con *symbol or rite, and they have made several statements to this effect*

«The Cacophony Society is a randomly gathered network of free spirits united in the pursuit of experiences beyond the pale of mainstream society through subversion, pranks, art, fringe explorations and meaningless madness.» — Cita el enunciado de misión de la Cacophony Society: red azarosa de espíritus libres unidos en la busca de experiencias más allá de la sociedad dominante, por subversión, bromas, arte, exploraciones marginales y locura sin sentido

«Most Cacophony events have typically been geared to acts of public weirdness, although members have also orchestrated clandestine events such as “sewer tours,” in which participants dressed in elegant formal attire and hip waders for (literal) underground cocktail parties.» — Ejemplifica el repertorio del grupo con los *sewer tours*, cócteles literalmente subterráneos con traje de etiqueta y botas de vadeo

«With no preconceived source or definitively ascribed interpretation underlying either the image of the Man or the annual rite of the Burn, its meaning is left open to individual interpretation and imagination.» — Repite la tesis de la vacuidad como principio: sin fuente preconcebida ni interpretación adscrita, el sentido del Man y del Burn queda abierto a la interpretación de cada quien

«Intended as a spoof of corporate culture, this theme feigned a hostile takeover of Burning Man by HelCo, said to be fresh on the heels of its successful leveraged buyout of hell.» — Describe el tema de 1996, The Inferno: HelCo fingía una adquisición hostil del festival, recién salida de la compra apalancada del infierno

«It was an ironic comment on Burning Man’s potential—and refusal—to sell out, even as the event underwent radical population growth and became increasingly structured.» — Lee la broma como comentario irónico sobre la capacidad —y la negativa— del evento a venderse, justo mientras crecía y se estructuraba

«The Inferno also featured the City of Dis — named after one of Dante’s levels of hell—which was an impressive forty-foot-high, three-towered sculpture with large gargoyle-like heads made of mud and wire mesh and designed by the artist Pepe Ozan» — Describe la City of Dis de Pepe Ozan, escultura de doce metros y tres torres con cabezas de gárgola en barro y malla, nombrada por un círculo del infierno de Dante

«Later, two other people were seriously injured when their tent was run over by a driver who was said to have consumed a large quantity and variety of illicit drugs.» — Consigna los accidentes de 1996 que precipitaron la regulación: dos personas gravemente heridas al ser arrollada su tienda por un conductor del que se dijo que había consumido drogas

«John Law, who had been a driving force behind Burning Man, did not want to see things move in the direction of greater regulation and control, so he withdrew from the organizing team and has not attended since.» — Registra la ruptura: John Law, motor del evento, no quiso ver más regulación y control, dejó el equipo organizador y no ha vuelto

«Harvey and many others, however, wanted to see Burning Man continue to grow so that as many people as possible could have the opportunity to experience what was understood to be a remarkable and potentially life-changing event, and they proceeded to take the necessary steps to reorganize and restructure the festival as it exists today.» — Opone a esa salida la posición de Harvey y muchos otros: hacer crecer el evento para que cuantos más pudieran vivir algo potencialmente transformador, y reorganizarlo para ello

«In order to institute a new organizational and fiscal umbrella for the event, Harvey formed the Black Rock City Limited Liability Corporation (BRC LLC) with Michael Michael and other longtime friends and coorganizers, Crimson Rose, Will Roger, Harley Dubois, as well as a relative newcomer, Marian Goodell, who became involved after the 1996 event.» — Nombra a los socios de la Black Rock City LLC con que Harvey dio marco organizativo y fiscal al evento: Michael Michael, Crimson Rose, Will Roger, Harley Dubois y la recién llegada Marian Goodell (donde la cita imprime *coorganizers*, el crudo parte *co-organizers* con guion de fin de renglón y la extracción por programa lo unió)

«For example, as Director of Business and Communications, Goodell manages Burning Man’s public interactions, including negotiations with local governments, the BLM, and the media, thereby serving a key role in shaping the public’s perception of the event.» — Detalla el reparto de cargos: Marian Goodell, como Director of Business and Communications, lleva las negociaciones con gobiernos locales, la BLM y los medios

«As Director of Community Services, DuBois has perhaps the most noticeable impact on participants’ experiences of the event itself as the City Manager of Black Rock City.» — Sitúa a Harley DuBois como Director of Community Services y City Manager de Black Rock City, el cargo de más impacto sobre la experiencia de los participantes (la fuente alterna las grafías *Dubois* y *DuBois*)

«Also known as “mutant vehicles,” art cars are creatively and often elaborately modified autos that have been transformed into various sorts of mobile interactive sculptures (fig. 2; see also DVD, chaps. 1 and 2). A roaming community of art car aficionados had started attending Burning Man in the early 1990s and became a beloved feature of the event.» — Define los *art cars* o vehículos mutantes: autos modificados vueltos esculturas móviles interactivas, cuya comunidad empezó a asistir a comienzos de los noventa

«Where once the threshold into the Zone was physically and symbolically breached by stepping across a simple line, this extended entrance is now marked with numerous and frequently humorous signs intended to help set the tone and evoke the annual theme.» — Mide la institucionalización del umbral: donde antes bastaba cruzar una línea trazada en el suelo, la entrada es ahora un acceso extendido con letreros que fijan el tono y evocan el tema anual

«Following a rigorous check for tickets, adequate supplies, and stowaways, arrivals proceed to a Greeters station, staffed by a much more cheerful bunch of volunteers who warmly welcome “home” both newcomers and old-timers.» — Consigna la fórmula de bienvenida del puesto de Greeters, que recibe *a casa* por igual a novatos y veteranos

«Participants occasionally refer to this body as “the BMorg,” pronounced “bee-morg,” but sometimes shortened to “the Borg,” a derogatory reference to a dystopian race of cyborgs from the Star Trek television shows.» — Registra el mote con que los participantes nombran al cuerpo organizador: *the BMorg*, abreviado *the Borg* por la raza distópica de cíborgs de Star Trek

«The Borg moniker indicates the extent to which many Burners contest and resist social structures deemed authoritative or hierarchical, but for their part, Burning Man organizers and staff members dislike this term and prefer that their collective endeavors be referred to as “the Project.”» — Lee el mote como índice de la resistencia de los Burners a toda estructura que juzguen autoritaria o jerárquica, y consigna que los organizadores lo rechazan y prefieren *the Project*

«Although participants are encouraged to travel around Black Rock City’s several-square-mile terrain on foot and bicycles, art cars are now “licensed” by the DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles).» — Registra la institucionalización de los vehículos: los *art cars* se *licencian* ante un Department of Mutant Vehicles

«The Burning Man organization, for its part, now carefully oversees a theme camp proposal and mapping process; those groups that successfully indicate that their efforts will create an exceptional venue for interactivity and participation are given preferential placement along Black Rock City’s main drag—usually called the Esplanade—which faces a large, central open area reserved for art installations, as well as other close-in locations that are mapped in advance.» — Describe el procedimiento con que la organización coloca los campamentos temáticos: quienes muestren que crearán un espacio excepcional de interactividad reciben lugar preferente sobre la Esplanade

«The layout of Black Rock City is designed to generate a particular sense of community, and Harvey has stated that he chose to leave the circle open because he wanted to invite a sense of boundlessness and wilderness into this civic space and also because he wanted the Man to reside at some distance from the main camp area.» — Atribuye a Harvey la decisión de dejar abierto el círculo de la ciudad: para invitar a un sentido de ilimitación y de tierra salvaje, y para que el Man quedara a distancia del campamento

«The placement of the Man at the center of the city’s concentric semicircles and radial spokes readily suggests a template that the historian of religion Mircea Eliade called the axis mundi —a symbolic manifestation of the sacred center of the cosmos and the location of hierophany, the eruption of the sacred into the profane world.» — Aplica al trazado de la ciudad el *axis mundi* del historiador de las religiones Mircea Eliade: centro sagrado del cosmos y lugar de la hierofanía, la irrupción de lo sagrado en el mundo profano

«The 2003 theme, Beyond Belief, was intended as an exploration of the boundaries of the world’s religions, rituals, and faiths, drawing the event closer than ever before into direct dialogue with notions of religion and spirituality.» — Fecha el momento en que el festival entra en diálogo directo con la religión: el tema de 2003, Beyond Belief, propuesto como exploración de los límites de las religiones, los ritos y las fes del mundo

«These annual themes are advanced in order to furnish a conceptual common ground and provide a starting point for the event’s creative expressions.» — Fija la función declarada de los temas anuales: dar un terreno conceptual común y un punto de partida a las expresiones creativas del evento

«It is much more important that artworks involve some form of interactivity, in keeping with the event’s participatory philosophy.» — Señala qué se exige del arte del festival: alguna forma de interactividad, antes que congruencia con el tema

«The need to preserve the natural desert environment led to one of the event’s primary mandates: leave no trace, a catchphrase initially developed by the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service, and the BLM in order to encourage visitors to wilderness areas to protect the natural environment from» — Traza el origen del mandato *leave no trace*: la frase la acuñaron el U.S. Forest Service, el National Park Service y la BLM para las áreas silvestres; la cita se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue *potentially damaging human activities and impacts*

«In advancing these principles, the organizers have not only framed and helped to define the nature of Burning Man but also selected for a set of participants who are, by temperament and social location, more likely to be drawn to an event of this sort in the first place.» — Enuncia el efecto de selección de los Diez Principios: además de definir la naturaleza del evento, filtran un conjunto de participantes ya inclinados por temperamento y posición social a acudir

«However, a few points are officially codified as the event’s “Ten Fundamentals,” prohibiting dogs, firearms, vending, driving non-art cars, leaving garbage behind, and camping outside the limits of Black Rock City and requiring that everyone purchase a ticket, follow basic sound and safety ordinances, and adhere to all applicable local and federal laws.» — Lista los *Ten Fundamentals* codificados: prohibición de perros, armas, venta, conducir vehículos que no sean *art cars*, dejar basura y acampar fuera de los límites, más la exigencia de boleto y de cumplir las leyes

«The journey to Black Rock City requires considerable preparation. At a minimum, everyone must supply their own food and water—at least one and a half gallons per person per day—along with other survival gear such as tents and general camping equipment.» — Fija el umbral material de la autosuficiencia: cada quien lleva su comida y su agua, al menos cinco litros y medio por persona y día, más tienda y equipo

«Over the years Burners have cultivated and nurtured an overarching ethos that reflects and reinforces the values and standards developed within the larger community of participants.» — Sitúa el origen del ethos en la comunidad antes que en la dirección: los Burners lo cultivaron y los organizadores lo formularon después

«These ideals were eventually explicitly formulated by the organizers into the “Ten Principles,” which serve as guidelines for community behavior:» — Nombra el documento en que ese ethos quedó escrito: los *Ten Principles* como guía de conducta comunitaria; la lista que sigue abre con inclusión radical, gifting, descomodificación y autosuficiencia radical

«The Center Camp Café serves as a central gathering spot in the heat of the day and provides a venue for participants’ spoken word and musical performances.» — Describe el Center Camp Café como punto de reunión en el calor del día y escenario para la palabra hablada y la música de los participantes

«To facilitate communication, from 1994 to 2004 organizers published a daily newspaper, the Black Rock Gazette, which in 2005 was reduced to a single “gate edition” following a decision to reallocate resources.» — Registra el diario interno, el Black Rock Gazette, publicado de 1994 a 2004 y reducido en 2005 a una sola *gate edition*

«Participants generally refer to the city’s open area simply as the playa, although technically this term applies to the entire landscape on which Black Rock City resides.» — Precisa el uso del término *playa*: los participantes llaman así al área abierta de la ciudad, aunque técnicamente nombra todo el paisaje

«This requirement—both enforced by the BLM and largely embraced by the community—entails scrupulously cleansing the playa surface of all physical traces of the festival at its conclusion, down to the last pistachio shell, cigarette butt, or speck of glitter, and requires participants to pack out all their own garbage.» — Detalla qué exige el *leave no trace*: limpiar la superficie de la playa de todo rastro físico del festival hasta la última cáscara de pistache, colilla o mota de brillantina, y llevarse la propia basura

«However, the implementation of this edict is not always perfect, and some participants inevitably leave behind messes, both large and small.» — Acota el cumplimiento: la aplicación del mandato no siempre es perfecta y hay participantes que dejan desorden

«Also, the organization uses its e-mail newsletter to publicly shame groups that leave behind large amounts of garbage by announcing the name of the camp, if known, or the location of the problem camp within the Black Rock City grid, as the dominant attitude among most Burners is that such behaviors are unacceptable.» — Describe la sanción social que aplica la organización: exhibir en su boletín el nombre del campamento o su posición en la retícula de la ciudad

«The principles of decommodification and gifting mean that both corporate and independent artisan vending is strictly prohibited at Burning Man, as are advertisements.» — Deriva de los principios de descomodificación y *gifting* la prohibición estricta de toda venta, corporativa o artesanal, y de la publicidad

«The no-vending policy distinguishes Burning Man from both commercial events like the neo-Woodstock concerts or the Coachella Music Festival, as well as from other so-called counterculture festivals such as the Rainbow Gathering and most contemporary Pagan festivals, at which many attendees fund their travels by selling food or arts and crafts.» — Usa esa prohibición como línea divisoria frente a los conciertos comerciales y también frente a otras fiestas contraculturales —el Rainbow Gathering, la mayoría de los festivales paganos contemporáneos— donde muchos costean el viaje vendiendo

«As an alternative, organizers promote the event as a gift economy in which participants are encouraged to freely share their resources and creativity while also practicing radical self-reliance in keeping with the requirement to supply all one’s own food, shelter, water, and any other items needed for survival.» — Formula la alternativa que proponen los organizadores: economía de regalo con autosuficiencia radical, donde se comparte libremente y a la vez cada quien lleva su comida, refugio y agua

«By and large, Burners have come to heartily embrace this edict, and indeed the promise of a space temporarily removed from the consumer culture that dominates in the default world is for some a main attraction of the event.» — Registra la recepción del mandato: los Burners lo abrazaron, y para algunos la promesa de un espacio apartado de la cultura de consumo es la atracción principal

«This ideal situates Burning Man within a larger cultural critique of corporate consumption and commodification and also blends seamlessly with the other key principles, as individuals are encouraged and inspired to share of themselves as a way to participate in the larger community.» — Sitúa ese ideal en una crítica cultural más amplia del consumo y la mercantilización corporativos, engranada con los demás principios

«The Burning Man organization consistently refuses all offers of corporate sponsorship and is vigilant about maintaining an event free from outside corporate advertising, product placement, and vending of any sort.» — Consigna la política de la organización: rechaza toda oferta de patrocinio corporativo y vigila que no entren publicidad externa, emplazamiento de producto ni venta

«However, the income generated by these sources constitutes a minuscule portion of Burning Man’s annual budget, which was nearly $8.4 million as of 2006.» — Da la cifra con que mide el peso de esas ventas: son parte mínima de un presupuesto anual de casi 8,4 millones de dólares en 2006

«Participants tend to be vocal critics of any perceived breach of the gift economy principle, and some have charged that—given the high ticket prices and increasingly complex bureaucracy—the Borg itself has become overly corporate or commercialized, despite its rhetoric.» — Consigna la crítica interna sin armonizarla: hay participantes que acusan al propio cuerpo organizador de haberse vuelto demasiado corporativo o comercializado, pese a su retórica

«We have drawn a dividing line around our desert event in order to separate direct, immediate experience from the commercial world of manufactured desire. It’s not that we are against commerce, but we are against commerce without community, consumption without purpose and profit without value.» — Cita la declaración de los organizadores: trazan una línea divisoria en torno al evento para separar la experiencia directa del mundo comercial del deseo fabricado, y precisan que no están contra el comercio sino contra el comercio sin comunidad

«Once past the gate, money can be exchanged in only two places within the Black Rock City limits: the Center Camp Café and an ice concession devised as a theme camp called CampArctica.» — Acota la excepción a la prohibición: dentro de los límites de la ciudad solo circula dinero en el Center Camp Café y en la concesión de hielo montada como campamento temático, CampArctica

«Given the length of time during which participants must maintain perishable food supplies in the desert heat, the pragmatism of an ice concession seems indisputable, and some portion of the profits of this enterprise are traditionally donated to the local communities of Gerlach and Empire.» — Justifica la concesión de hielo por la duración de la estancia y consigna que parte de sus ganancias se dona a las comunidades vecinas de Gerlach y Empire

«However, some participants still find the Café controversial, feeling that it represents a commodified space, providing a service that participants would do better to fulfill in their own self-reliant (and gifting) ways.» — Recoge la objeción de quienes ven en el Café un espacio mercantilizado que presta un servicio que los participantes harían mejor en cubrir por sí mismos

«In resisting corporate branding, many participants go so far as to carefully mask or creatively alter all logos on the rented trucks and other gear they bring with them, so that Black Rock City can remain a kind of purified space, ideologically (if not practically) removed from the tainted forces of the market.» — Describe el gesto con que los participantes llevan el principio a la práctica: tapan o alteran los logotipos de los camiones rentados para que la ciudad siga siendo un espacio purificado, ideológicamente apartado del mercado

«Kozinets concluded: Rather than providing a resolution to the many extant social tensions in contemporary life—such as those surrounding the beneficial and oppressive» — Cita la conclusión del estudioso del consumo Robert Kozinets; la cita se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue en la 54 con *elements of markets—it offers a conceptual space set apart within which to temporarily consider, to play with and within those contradictions*

«It falls short of some ideal and uncontaminated state, but it may be all the consumer emancipation most consumers want or need.» — Recoge el límite con que Kozinets cierra: el evento no alcanza un estado ideal ni incontaminado, pero acaso sea toda la emancipación del consumidor que la mayoría quiere o necesita

«Finally, perhaps the most popular principle at Burning Man is the injunction to participate, with the corollary that there should be, as stated above, no spectators.» — Nombra el principio que tiene por más popular: la orden de participar, con su corolario de que no haya espectadores

«As Harvey has stated, “We [ask] that participants commune with themselves, that they regard their own reality, that essential inner portion of experience that makes them feel real, as if it were a vision.… No one can say what that vision might be. We just ask people to invent some way of sharing it with others.”» — Cita a Harvey sobre la forma de esa participación: pedir a cada quien que trate su realidad interior como si fuera una visión —nadie puede decir cuál sea— y que invente algún modo de compartirla

«In this regard, there is no official mandate as to how, specifically, one should participate in or express oneself through the event.» — Acota el mandato de participar: no hay orden oficial sobre cómo hacerlo ni cómo expresarse en el evento

«Furthermore, the various elements of this ethos—especially participation, radical self-expression, and radical self-reliance—have come to be among the key elements of the event that participants most frequently cite as having inspired a sense of life transformation or critical change in perspective, as I explore further in chapter 4.» — Enlaza el ethos con la transformación: participación, autoexpresión radical y autosuficiencia radical son los elementos que los participantes citan con más frecuencia como inspiradores de un cambio de vida o de perspectiva

«Ritual, religion, and spirituality have always been thematic undercurrents at the Burning Man festival.» — Abre la conclusión del capítulo primero enunciando que ritual, religión y espiritualidad han sido siempre corrientes temáticas de fondo en el festival

«Although there was ostensibly no conscious intention behind that act, religious or otherwise, the simple performance and the spontaneous community that formed around it tapped into a primal attraction to fire and referenced ancient “pagan” sacrificial rites and totems, triggering a mood that was at once contemplative and celebratory.» — Sostiene que, sin intención consciente declarada, la performance sencilla y la comunidad espontánea de la primera quema tocaron una atracción primaria al fuego y remitieron a ritos y tótems sacrificiales *paganos* antiguos

«In tandem with this, many participants use Burning Man as a space in which to create quirky, unorthodox, and hybrid forms of ritual expression through which participants cobble together independent symbol and meaning systems.» — Resume la operación que el libro estudiará: los participantes usan el festival para crear formas rituales excéntricas, heterodoxas e híbridas con las que arman sistemas propios de símbolo y sentido

«Many also report that the shared, immediate experience of the event contains deeply transformative and spiritual dimensions, although they typically refuse to associate Burning Man with any explicit metaphysical, theological, or religious doctrine.» — Consigna la tensión que el libro no armoniza: los participantes reportan dimensiones hondamente transformadoras y espirituales y a la vez rehúsan asociar el evento con doctrina metafísica, teológica o religiosa alguna

«Its existence derives in part from a variety of cultural movements that include but are certainly not limited to eighteenth-and nineteenth-century camp revivals, contemporary outdoor festivals, so-called New Age and other alternative spiritual movements, countercultural and Utopian movements of the 1960s (and before), rebellious punk movements of the 1970s and 1980s, and the electronic music and dance scenes of the 1990s (and beyond).» — Enumera las corrientes de las que el festival deriva: las *camp revivals* de los siglos XVIII y XIX, los festivales al aire libre, los movimientos llamados New Age y otras espiritualidades alternativas, la contracultura y las utopías de los sesenta, el punk de los setenta y ochenta y las escenas de música electrónica de los noventa

«Many of these movements can be traced in turn to various pursuits for something deemed more “real” or more “true” that resides outside the bounds of the ordinary social world, or in Burners’ terms, the default world.» — Halla un denominador en todas ellas: la busca de algo tenido por más *real* o más *verdadero* fuera del mundo social ordinario, lo que los Burners llaman *default world*

«Such movements have a long legacy in numerous religious reform impulses across cultures and histories, wherever the dominant or normative religious institutions have come to be seen as somehow corrupt or otherwise lacking in “authentic” spirituality.» — Inscribe esas búsquedas en un legado largo de impulsos de reforma religiosa, allí donde las instituciones dominantes llegan a verse corruptas o faltas de espiritualidad *auténtica*

«It is difficult to discuss Burning Man as a venue of ritual and spirituality as for the most part neither participants, nor organizers, nor observers see it as constituting a religion.» — Enuncia la dificultad de partida del capítulo segundo: ni los participantes, ni los organizadores, ni los observadores ven en el festival una religión

«Burners employ a multitude of diverse and sometimes contradictory frameworks to describe their perspectives on the event, and if there is a dominant principle that most could agree with, it may be that Burning Man “can be whatever you want it to be.”» — Registra el único principio en que casi todos coincidirían, el de que el evento pueda ser lo que cada quien quiera que sea

«Yet the abundance of experiences that some participants claim as spiritual—alongside numerous and culturally eclectic expressions of religious themes and symbols that are readily observable within the event’s rituals, artwork, and costuming—begs the question as to why Burning Man is not considered a religion.» — Plantea la pregunta del capítulo desde la evidencia contraria: la abundancia de experiencias que algunos llaman espirituales y los temas y símbolos religiosos visibles en ritos, arte y vestuario

«One important reason is that most participants tend to come to this endeavor with an idea of religion that carries a lot of negative baggage— laden with notions of institutionalization, oppression, stultification, and irrationality—that they seek, in part through this festival, to be free of.» — Propone una razón de la negativa: los participantes llegan con una idea de religión cargada de institucionalización, opresión, entumecimiento e irracionalidad, de la que quieren librarse

«We believe that the experience of Burning Man can produce positive spiritual change in the world.» — Cita el enunciado de misión de la organización, que sí admite el término: creen que la experiencia del festival puede producir cambio espiritual positivo en el mundo (la frase se imprime dos veces en el volumen: aquí, en el capítulo segundo, y de nuevo en el apéndice 3, que reproduce el enunciado entero)

«We have never attached any kind of supernatural dogma to [Burning Man’s] practices. Undoubtedly, the act of pilgrimage to a remote location and the ritual sacrifice of a ceremonial figure has real religious resonance for many people, and any spiritual faith, however arrived at, is certainly worthy of respect. Valid comparisons have also been drawn between events at Burning Man and religious ceremonies in the ancient world—in particular, the observances of the Mystery Religions of the Hellenic and Roman eras. [See DVD, chap. 3.] The ritual aspects of Burning Man, however, have wholly evolved in the context of artistic endeavor, and their significance, as with any work of art, is explicitly left open to interpretation.» — Reproduce la declaración con que los organizadores acotan ese término: nunca han atado dogma sobrenatural a sus prácticas; admiten la resonancia religiosa de la peregrinación y del sacrificio ritual de una figura, y aun las comparaciones con las religiones mistéricas helenísticas y romanas, pero sostienen que sus aspectos rituales evolucionaron como obra de arte y quedan abiertos a interpretación

«Such maneuvers to differentiate the concepts of spirituality and religion aside, any attempt to unequivocally or universally define these terms is nearly insurmountable as they emerge from and exist in specific historical and cultural contexts and represent concepts that may or may not be more or less applicable in other settings.» — Acota su propio aparato conceptual: todo intento de definir de modo unívoco o universal *spirituality* y *religion* es casi insalvable, porque surgen de contextos históricos y culturales concretos

«Ultimately, both terms grasp at ineffable human experiences, beliefs, and desires and therefore are perhaps best understood as culturally constructed signifiers that attempt to contain these illusive qualities.» — Propone entender ambos términos como significantes construidos culturalmente que tratan de contener experiencias, creencias y deseos inefables

«What is most significant here is not what should or should not be construed as either religion or spirituality in any essence but rather how Burners describe and frame their own experiences and orientations to the underlying concepts these terms reference, and why.» — Desplaza la pregunta de la esencia al uso: lo que importa no es qué deba contarse como religión o espiritualidad, sino cómo los Burners describen y enmarcan sus propias experiencias, y por qué

«With few exceptions, the majority of my friends, acquaintances, and campmates at Burning Man eschew involvement in traditional religious institutions, and many see themselves as completely secular, perceiving both religion and spirituality as irrational and repressive realms.» — Consigna lo que halló entre sus allegados del festival: la mayoría rehúye las instituciones religiosas tradicionales y muchos se tienen por completamente seculares, viendo religión y espiritualidad como ámbitos irracionales y represivos

«There is some general sympathy for alternative spiritualities and practices such as contemporary Paganism, along with other, more generic new age spiritualities and mysticisms, but very few people whom I encountered actively embrace or adopt specific practices or identities.» — Matiza ese cuadro: hay simpatía general por el paganismo contemporáneo y por misticismos *new age* genéricos, pero muy pocos de quienes trató adoptan prácticas o identidades concretas

«In most of these conversations, I heard similar narratives of desires or quests for spirituality paired with a rejection of organized religion, along with various experiences of personal transformation and ritual catharsis in the desert’s crucible.» — Resume el patrón que oyó una y otra vez: deseo o busca de espiritualidad emparejado con rechazo de la religión organizada, más experiencias de transformación personal y catarsis ritual en el crisol del desierto

«I wish to be clear that these general groupings—as well as the broad descriptors alternative, secular, and mainstream —are not intended to constitute a comprehensive or global typology.» — Acota el valor de su clasificación: los rótulos *alternative*, *secular* y *mainstream* no pretenden ser una tipología comprensiva ni global

«Alternative is, of course, a somewhat problematic term, as it would seem to be defined solely in opposition to an equally illusive and variable “mainstream.”» — Objeta su propio término: *alternative* solo parece definirse por oposición a un *mainstream* igualmente esquivo y variable

«Spirituality is a flow, emotions not logic, analog not digital, music not words.» — Según Gilmore, un encuestado define así la espiritualidad: un flujo, emociones no lógica, analógico no digital, música no palabras

«Religious, to me, implies [being] stuck in some hierarchical group with a set belief system. Spiritual, to me, means being open to all life and all people and feeling part of nature and all creation.» — Según Gilmore, otro encuestado opone los dos términos: *religious* es quedar atrapado en un grupo jerárquico con un sistema de creencias fijo, y *spiritual*, estar abierto a toda la vida y sentirse parte de la naturaleza

«Among the key questions I put to participants was, “In general, do you consider yourself a religious or spiritual person? Please say more about what that means to you, why you do or do not. What has been your religious/spiritual background?”» — Transcribe la pregunta central de su encuesta: si el encuestado se considera religioso o espiritual, qué significa eso para él y cuál ha sido su trasfondo religioso o espiritual

«These typically reflected eight basic tendencies, which I grouped into three broad categories, as follows:» — Presenta el resultado como ocho tendencias básicas agrupadas en tres grandes categorías

«EIGHT BASIC TENDENCIES “Alternative” (58 percent) GROUP 1. Those who clearly stated—in more or less as many words— that they considered themselves “spiritual, but not religious” (31 percent). GROUP 2. Those who indicated that they thought of themselves as in some way “spiritual” but who did not explicitly indicate that they either rejected or embraced any particular religious tradition, or “religion” in general (11 percent).» — Encabeza con la cifra de la categoría *alternativa*, 58 por ciento, y desglosa los dos primeros grupos

«GROUP 3. Those who described themselves as “spiritual” while also identifying an interest in multiple religious traditions (and no» — Da el tercer grupo, 10 por ciento: quienes se dicen *espirituales* y declaran interés en varias tradiciones religiosas; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase sigue en la 61 con *explicit affiliation with any one tradition) (10 percent)*

«included under this rubric, the framework most commonly referenced— totaling nearly one-third of all respondents» — Mide el peso de la fórmula que da título al capítulo: cerca de un tercio de los encuestados; el tramo arranca a media frase y se corta en el cambio de plana, donde la frase remata nombrando esa misma fórmula

«I consider myself pretty spiritual, for the most part…. I was into Wiccanism for a while, but I’ve recently discovered what I believe is a mix of Wiccanism, Buddhism, and Hinduism all together. I suppose if I had to label that, it would make me a Unitarian, yes? I choose not to label it.» — Según Gilmore, una encuestada de diecinueve años de Vancouver describe su composición: pasó por el wiccanismo y ahora sostiene una mezcla de wiccanismo, budismo e hinduismo que prefiere no rotular

«I am a Druid and very active in the Pagan community.» — Según Gilmore, otro encuestado del mismo grupo se declara druida y activo en la comunidad pagana; la línea es corta y se cita entera

«I have been a Kabbalist for years. The Kabbalah is more pragmatic than most ‘mysticisms.’ I feel I have spirit, but I am not ‘new age.’» — Según Gilmore, una encuestada de veintiséis años de Seattle se dice cabalista desde hace años, halla la cábala más pragmática que la mayoría de los misticismos y se deslinda de lo *new age*

«Ultimately, however, given the dominant position that Western monotheisms hold in U.S. society, I opted to use the term mainstream in recognition of this privilege.» — Explica por qué eligió el rótulo *mainstream*: reconoce con él la posición dominante de los monoteísmos occidentales en la sociedad estadounidense

«As we discussed his perspective on Burning Man, he told me that he had needed to carefully consider his understanding of what the Burning Man “idol” meant, so as not to engage in any way in the worship of “false gods.”» — Según Gilmore, el cofundador del campamento Black Rock City Jewish Community Center le dijo que tuvo que pensar con cuidado qué significaba el *ídolo* del Burning Man para no incurrir en culto a *falsos dioses*

«I’m an Orthodox Lutheran. Which is one of the reasons that I haven’t participated in anything ritualistic [here] that would be against my beliefs.» — Según Gilmore, una participante luterana ortodoxa declara que por eso no ha tomado parte en nada ritual del festival

«‘I will entice you into the desert and there I will speak to you in the depths of your heart.’ Hosea 2:14. It happened to me.» — Según Gilmore, un cuáquero de toda la vida, cuarentón de Oakland, cita Oseas 2:14 —el pasaje del Dios que seduce al desierto para hablar en lo hondo del corazón— y añade que le ocurrió

«He returned to find that Burning Man had changed his “personal definition of weird” and had deepened his own relationship to God.» — Consigna el efecto que Randy Bohlender, pastor evangélico, atribuye al festival: le cambió su definición personal de lo raro y ahondó su relación con Dios

«I no longer find it weird when people express themselves in ways I never thought of…. I think God likes our rough, creative ideas better than professional presentation.» — Según Gilmore, Bohlender sostiene en un ensayo publicado en el sitio de su iglesia que Dios prefiere las ideas creativas y rudas a la presentación profesional

«This was also the case for Randy Bohlender, a young evangelical pastor who made repeated trips to Burning Man from the Midwest with members of his flock starting in 2000, in order to witness his faith and» — Presenta a Randy Bohlender, pastor evangélico joven que viajó repetidamente al festival desde el Medio Oeste con miembros de su congregación desde 2000; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase sigue en la 66 diciendo que iba a dar testimonio de su fe y a repartir miles de botellas de agua para mostrar el amor de Dios

«I grew up very Christian in the South and in fact struggled with wanting to let that go until I came to Burning Man. Finding god in the desert just in the spirit of the event and the attitude of my fellow Burners helped me set aside my fears and religious hang-ups.» — Según Gilmore, una neoyorquina de treinta y tantos, criada en el cristianismo del Sur, dice que hallar a Dios en el desierto le ayudó a dejar de lado sus miedos y trabas religiosas

«In instances such as these, it can be seen that while some Burners who have conventional religious affiliations may feel a need to negotiate a potential conflict between their faith and their experience of the festival, its transformative reach does not necessarily preclude “mainstream” religious affiliators and can in some cases even enhance them.» — Deriva de esos casos una conclusión acotada: el alcance transformador del evento no excluye necesariamente a quienes tienen afiliación religiosa *mainstream* y a veces la refuerza

«I go to Burning Man because the playa puts me in my place. I spend entirely too much time in boxes. I have a ranch style, suburban box, where I keep my family and most of my stuff.» — Según Gilmore, Bohlender explica su vuelta al desierto porque la playa lo pone en su sitio: pasa demasiado tiempo en cajas, y una de ellas es la casa suburbana donde guarda a su familia y sus cosas

«On the playa, we are at the mercy of God (some would say the universe, but remember…I’ve got a paradigm).» — Según Gilmore, Bohlender contrapone a esas cajas la playa, donde se está a merced de Dios, con el paréntesis de que otros dirían el universo

«Although he never wavered from his faith in what he termed “the exclusivity of the Gospel,” he also remained open to the creative and transformative possibilities of the event.» — Consigna la coexistencia sin armonizarla: Bohlender no se apartó de su fe en lo que llamó la exclusividad del Evangelio y a la vez siguió abierto a las posibilidades creativas y transformadoras del evento

«These individuals may hold highly individualistic orientations to their faith, but —as it does for those of more “alternative” or “secular” orientations— the experience of Burning Man can offer encounters with spirituality or transformation for them as well.» — Cierra el tramo del grupo *mainstream*: la experiencia del festival puede ofrecerles encuentros con la espiritualidad o la transformación igual que a los de orientación *alternativa* o *secular*

«For example, one participant in his mid-thirties from San Francisco stated, “I think that religion is stupid and spirituality is a crutch that the human mind requires to make sense of the world.» — Según Gilmore, un participante de San Francisco de treinta y tantos declara que la religión es estúpida y la espiritualidad una muleta que la mente humana necesita para darle sentido al mundo

«He would not let me tape record our conversation because it happened to be a Saturday morning when I stopped by his camp, and he felt that recording would violate religious proscriptions against working on the Sabbath.» — Registra un límite de campo que la propia obra consigna: el entrevistado no permitió grabar por ser sábado y ver en ello una violación de la prohibición de trabajar en Shabat

«However, a handful of respondents—4 percent—similarly indicated that they could be best understood as primarily atheist or agnostic but also that they experienced some connection to a greater reality understood from a scientific or secular perspective.» — Da la cifra del grupo que junta ateísmo o agnosticismo con una conexión a una realidad mayor entendida en clave científica o secular: 4 por ciento

«The universe is such an amazing place, why would anyone want to muck it up with religion?…I suspect what others may get from spirituality, I get from standing somewhere, looking at a beautiful Douglas fir, and thinking down, down, down through the various scales from the overall tree and it’s structures and systems…back up to the macro level and photosynthesis, forest as community, the biota that exists within the tree[,]…which leads you to the formation of planets, solar systems, [and] stellar formation…followed by the structure of galaxies, local clusters, and the strings and voids that make up large-scale stellar structures in the universe…. Is that sequence of thoughts “spiritual”? I suspect that others might describe it that way.» — Según Gilmore, un bioquímico y programador de Emeryville, California, de unos cuarenta y cinco años, describe esa conexión como un recorrido de escalas —del abeto de Douglas a la fotosíntesis, del bosque como comunidad a la formación de planetas y galaxias— y se pregunta si otros llamarían espiritual a esa secuencia de pensamientos

«If Burners’ perspectives on questions of religion and spirituality in their own lives are heterogeneous and independent, their views on whether or not Burning Man should be understood as a religious or spiritual event are likewise multifaceted and defy easy categorization.» — Traslada la heterogeneidad de las posiciones personales a la pregunta por el evento mismo: las respuestas sobre si el festival es religioso o espiritual también resisten la clasificación fácil

«While not constituting a clear majority opinion, the most frequently voiced theme—46 percent of respondents—affirmed that this festival contained some spiritual aspect.» — Da la cifra del tema más frecuente, sin mayoría clara: 46 por ciento afirma que el festival contiene algún aspecto espiritual

«In keeping with this general resistance to institutionalized religion, as well as with the significant number of individuals who professed largely secular orientations, 15 percent of respondents stated that the Burning Man event lacked any inherent spirituality—a perspective that tended to be more prevalent among those who identified themselves as atheist or agnostic (see table 1).» — Consigna el reverso: 15 por ciento sostiene que el evento carece de toda espiritualidad inherente, posición más frecuente entre quienes se declaran ateos o agnósticos

«I have no religious or spiritual background. I don’t really consider myself a religious or spiritual person. I do believe that there is a greater being or beings. I am still in the inquiry as to who or what that may be and how my life is influenced by that being.» — Según Gilmore, una encuestada del sur del Bay Area de treinta y tres años sin trasfondo religioso dice creer, sin embargo, que hay un ser o seres mayores, y seguir indagando quién o qué sean

«Such responses demonstrate a perhaps predictable rejection of religion that is similar to many of the “alternative” voices noted above, based on their perception of numerous institutional problems or personal negative experiences that led them to a generalized mistrust of organized religion.» — Explica el rechazo de los seculares por la misma vía que el de los *alternativos*: problemas institucionales percibidos o experiencias personales negativas que llevaron a una desconfianza generalizada

«Although most respondents did not specifically mention such understandings of cosmic or scientific mystery, I suspect that many other Burners with a secular orientation might embrace something like this experience of connectedness to creation.» — Extiende con reserva —declarándola sospecha suya y no dato— la conexión con la creación a otros Burners de orientación secular

«A participant in her mid-forties from Sacramento stated, “Burning Man calls to the part of us that is really spiritual, that understands our connection with the Universe.» — Según Gilmore, una participante de Sacramento de cuarenta y tantos dice que el festival llama a la parte de nosotros que es realmente espiritual y entiende nuestra conexión con el Universo

«And as a thirty-oneyear-old woman from Oakland put it, “There is a very real connection people are feeling out there to the divine, to ancestors and the dead, and especially to the divine within each participant.”» — Según Gilmore, una mujer de Oakland de treinta y uno habla de una conexión muy real con lo divino, con los ancestros y los muertos, y sobre todo con lo divino dentro de cada participante (la fuente imprime *thirty-oneyear-old*, palabra que el troceo dejó pegada en el corte de renglón)

«A few of these replies were as simple as “No”;43 others reflected a certain cynicism, as exemplified by this response from a thirty-nine-year-old Bay Area man: “No, it is not! It is someone’s way to make a shitload of money.”» — Recoge las negativas más secas y la más cínica, la de un hombre del Bay Area de treinta y nueve años que ve en el evento el modo de alguien de hacer un montón de dinero

«There is no god/goddess. I’ve never understood why folk find Burning Man somewhat religious, but I’ve never felt it to be.» — Según Gilmore, otro encuestado niega dios o diosa y dice no haber entendido nunca por qué otros hallan algo religioso en el festival

«Personally, I don’t think that Burning Man is religious or spiritual in the traditional definitions of the terms. However, I can see how it might be considered religious or spiritual, referencing a more tribal, reptilian form of ritual that is lacking in regular society today.» — Según Gilmore, un encuestado niega que el evento sea religioso o espiritual en el sentido tradicional y a la vez admite que podría verse así, por referirse a una forma de ritual más tribal y reptiliana que hoy falta en la sociedad corriente

«Indeed, 39 percent of all respondents noted various ritualistic aspects —or other structural elements commonly perceived as characteristics of religions—as in some way intrinsic to the event, most of whom also concurred that these conditions lent the event a spiritual quality or flavor.» — Da la cifra del reconocimiento ritual: 39 por ciento señaló aspectos ritualísticos u otros elementos estructurales tenidos por propios de las religiones como intrínsecos al evento

«Most simply, “religion” in this context tends to mean organized or institutional religion and is also usually associated with doctrinal beliefs or ideologies, as well as particular ritual and symbol systems.» — Fija el sentido que *religión* tiene en este campo: religión organizada o institucional, asociada a creencias o ideologías doctrinales y a sistemas rituales y simbólicos particulares

«“Spirituality,” on the other hand, is conceived as better found outside the realm of institutional religious structures and doctrines and evokes a broadly and variously conceived sense of connection with something more that is beyond the individual and the ordinary.» — Fija el sentido correlativo de *espiritualidad*: mejor hallada fuera de las estructuras y doctrinas religiosas institucionales, como conexión con algo más allá del individuo y de lo ordinario

«Spirituality as performed in this context is fundamentally experiential (based on the primacy of personal experience and personal authority), reflexive (inspiring reflections on self, self/other, and self/culture), and heterodoxie (constituted by multiply layered, fluid, and noncentralized constructions of meaning).» — Da los tres rasgos con que caracteriza la espiritualidad que allí se representa: experiencial, reflexiva y heterodoxa (la fuente imprime *heterodoxie*, errata que se conserva)

«Finally, for most—but, of course, by no means all—Burning Man participants, this quest takes place largely outside the context of traditional religious institutions.» — Acota el alcance de la generalización: para la mayoría, aunque en modo alguno para todos, esa búsqueda ocurre fuera de las instituciones religiosas tradicionales

«In this regard, a second question I posed to participants was, “Do you think Burning Man is a religious or spiritual event? Why or why not?”» — Transcribe la segunda pregunta de la encuesta: si el encuestado tiene al Burning Man por evento religioso o espiritual, y por qué

«THEME 3. Those who firmly rejected any notion of Burning Man as either spiritual or religious (15 percent). THEME 4. Those who noted Burning Man’s ritualistic features and other traits that parallel traditional religious institutions and structures (39 percent). THEME 5. Those who stated that Burning Man could be whatever participants wanted it to be (42 percent).» — Lista los tres últimos temas con sus cifras: 15 por ciento rechaza de plano lo espiritual y lo religioso, 39 por ciento señala rasgos ritualísticos paralelos a las instituciones religiosas y 42 por ciento sostiene que el evento puede ser lo que cada quien quiera

«When correlated with responses from the previous section, not surprisingly, individuals who described themselves as spiritual or religious (Groups 1-5) were also more likely to characterize Burning Man as spiritual or religious, whereas those whose perspectives tended toward the secular (Groups 6-8) were less likely to ascribe such qualities to the event.» — Correlaciona los dos cuestionarios: quienes se describen espirituales o religiosos tienden a caracterizar así el evento, y quienes se inclinan a lo secular tienden a no hacerlo

«I think it can be, since it has been for me. Since it encourages community, which was always my favorite part of my religious experience, and presents many opportunities for personal mystic / divine / love experiences which I see as a major component of my spirituality.» — Según Gilmore, un encuestado funda el carácter espiritual del evento en la comunidad —su parte favorita de la experiencia religiosa— y en las ocasiones de experiencia mística, divina o amorosa

«Religion is a recent disease at Burning Man. For me, Burning Man has always been a great escape from the painful pseudoreligious stupidity I have to listen to and live with in the real world…. It was not a spiritual event for many years, but as more people come, everything gets easier, safer, and more like a rave in downtown [San Francisco].» — Según Gilmore, un encuestado sostiene lo contrario de la tendencia: la religión es una enfermedad reciente del festival, que no fue espiritual durante años y se volvió más fácil, seguro y parecido a un rave conforme creció

«People stop discovering what it is about and just lean on the old tired mindless religious ideas, because it is so much easier than discovering something new.» — El mismo testimonio añade que la gente deja de descubrir de qué se trata y se apoya en viejas ideas religiosas porque es más fácil que descubrir algo nuevo

«It has an amazing power to be whatever the hell you want it to be.» — Según Gilmore, otro encuestado formula el tema más repetido: el evento tiene un poder asombroso de ser lo que uno quiera que sea; la línea es corta y se cita entera

«It’s the removal of expectations, and the reminder that expectations leads to disappointments.» — Según Gilmore, otro lo dice por la vía negativa: quitarse las expectativas, con el recordatorio de que llevan a decepciones

«The interpretive openness evidenced in participants’ widespread rejection of religion as a meaning-making frame—and in turn the collective dismissal of any pretense of orthodoxy in defining the event itself—is a central and critical aspect of this festival.» — Nombra lo que tiene por rasgo central del festival: una apertura interpretativa hecha de rechazo a la religión como marco de sentido y de descarte colectivo de toda pretensión de ortodoxia sobre el evento mismo

«Burners seek—in part through this festival—to realize and ritualize their desires for connectedness, community, and meaning by constructing individualistic narratives that privilege experiences and expressions of spirituality over traditional religious institutions and doctrines.» — Resume la operación que atribuye a los Burners: realizar y ritualizar sus deseos de conexión, comunidad y sentido construyendo relatos individualizados que privilegian la experiencia por encima de las instituciones y las doctrinas

«For example, a 2006 Gallup Poll found that 84 percent of Americans said that religion is a very or fairly important aspect of their lives, and 63 percent said they were members of a church or synagogue.» — Opone a esa tesis la cifra de una encuesta Gallup de 2006: 84 por ciento de los estadounidenses dice que la religión es aspecto muy o bastante importante de su vida y 63 por ciento se declara miembro de una iglesia o sinagoga

«In this regard, the persistence of alternative spiritualities and the apparent manifestation of spiritual expressions in ostensibly secular venues such as Burning Man is ultimately nothing new.» — Acota la novedad del fenómeno: la persistencia de espiritualidades alternativas y su aparición en sedes ostensiblemente seculares no es nada nuevo

«Contrary to a popular notion that the United States has always been a Christian nation, religious and spiritual practices have historically been far more diverse than is generally acknowledged; scholars have found that so-called alternative spiritualities have been part of the American landscape since its beginnings.» — Objeta la idea corriente de que Estados Unidos haya sido siempre una nación cristiana: hay estudios que hallan espiritualidades llamadas alternativas en el paisaje estadounidense desde sus comienzos

«Roof’s and Bellah’s studies in particular were pointed primarily at the so-called Baby Boom generation, typically defined as those born between 1946 and 1964. Burning Man, however, attracts participants from many different age groups, with the largest bloc belonging to what came to be known as Generation X, or GenX—that is, those born between 1965 and 1984.» — Marca la diferencia generacional que separa a su objeto del de esos estudios: Roof y Bellah miraban a los *Baby Boomers*, y el bloque mayor del festival es la Generación X

«For example, respondents to my 2004 survey ranged in age from 17 to 66, with a median age of 37.5» — Da el rango de edad de su encuesta de 2004: de 17 a 66 años, con mediana de 37,5

«Regardless of the extent to which such qualities may or may not be generationally ascribable, they can be useful in contextualizing Burning Man, for just as Burners tend to seek personalized experiences of spirituality—the authority and authenticity of which are internally rather than externally determined, and which emphasize experience over doctrine—they are also clearly religious “entrepreneurs.”» — Aplica la categoría con reserva sobre su adscripción generacional: los Burners buscan experiencias personalizadas de espiritualidad, cuya autoridad y autenticidad se deciden por dentro, y son también claramente *emprendedores* religiosos

«This can be observed in their emphasis on freeform spiritual creativity, hybridity, and “do-it-yourself” attitude.» — Señala dónde se ve ese emprendimiento: en el énfasis en la creatividad espiritual de forma libre, la hibridez y la actitud de hacerlo uno mismo

«Thus, instead of adhering to specific religious traditions, Burners construct extremely multifaceted experiences of spirituality unmediated by any one institution or doctrine, including those of Burning Man itself.» — Extiende el rechazo a la institución hasta el propio festival: los Burners construyen experiencias de espiritualidad no mediadas por institución ni doctrina alguna, ni siquiera las del Burning Man

«Furthermore, as I examine more fully in later chapters, community is undoubtedly a core element of the Burning Man experience. It is an important part of what keeps many participants coming back year after year and, for some, inextricable from the aspects that render the event, in various ways, a spiritual and transformative experience.» — Pone la comunidad como elemento nuclear de la experiencia y como razón de que muchos vuelvan año tras año, inseparable para algunos de lo que vuelve el evento espiritual y transformador

«The example of Burning Man challenges the notion that the displacement of religious or spiritual impulses from normative public institutions onto alternate venues necessitates an increase in privatization and individualism or a concomitant decrease in the fabric of moral communities.» — Objeta la tesis heredada de Bellah y Wuthnow: que el desplazamiento de los impulsos religiosos hacia sedes alternativas obligue a más privatización e individualismo, o a un debilitamiento del tejido de las comunidades morales

«The spiritual questing and hybridity of Burning Man do not result in a solipsistic and disconnected individualism but rather tie individuals to expanded and deepened experiences of self within particular communities and cultural contexts.» — Enuncia lo que halla en su lugar: la busca espiritual y la hibridez del festival no dan un individualismo solipsista y desconectado, sino experiencias ampliadas de sí dentro de comunidades y contextos culturales concretos

«Although many note similarities between Burning Man and religion, most also ultimately rebuff this label and conclude that it is something» — Consigna el movimiento doble del campo: se advierten semejanzas entre el festival y la religión y a la vez se rechaza la etiqueta; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y remata con *else*

«In the end, the difficulty of separating out what ultimately distinguishes the institution, rituals, and ideology of Burning Man from what is typically considered “religion”—characterized, among other qualities, by institutions, rituals, and ideologies—underscores the questionable accuracy of dividing these two realms in the first place.» — Vuelve la dificultad contra la distinción misma: si el festival tiene instituciones, ritos e ideologías, separarlo de lo que suele llamarse religión pone en duda la exactitud de dividir los dos ámbitos

«At Burning Man, what finally matters is how individuals frame their experiences. Burning Man provides a domain in which participants can have experiences of connection, purpose, transformation, or simply feeling more fully human and alive, experiences that are often associated with what many call religion and spirituality. But in this context, these experiences can be interpreted or framed in whatever heterodoxie and» — Desplaza el criterio al encuadre: lo que finalmente importa es cómo cada quien enmarca experiencias de conexión, propósito, transformación o de sentirse más plenamente vivo; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue en la 78 con *reflexive way individuals choose*

«Any attempt to unequivocally quantify and untangle the problem of whether Burning Man is or isn’t religion, or is or isn’t spiritual, quickly becomes a kind of chicken-or-egg conundrum and is not the point. Burning Man can be whatever participants want it to be and furthermore calls the presumed stability of the very concepts of religion and spirituality into question by challenging normative assumptions about where lived religious and ritual practice is located.» — Declara sin salida la pregunta por si el festival es o no religión y la sustituye por su efecto: pone en cuestión la estabilidad supuesta de los conceptos mismos al desafiar dónde se sitúa la práctica religiosa vivida

«People go to Burning Man to play with alternative experiences, identities, and spiritualities. In so doing, they individualistically and idiosyncratically draw on a diverse and limitless pool of global cultural resources and engage in an a la carte mixture of the world’s various faith and symbol systems in order to piece together ad hoc and hybrid frameworks through which to perform their personal spiritual beliefs and aspirations.» — Describe el procedimiento: se echa mano idiosincrásicamente de un acervo global ilimitado y se mezclan a la carta los sistemas de fe y de símbolos del mundo para armar marcos híbridos y *ad hoc*

«In this regard, to view oneself as spiritual but not religious is simply to adopt one set of markers among many possible ones and reflects Burners’ tendencies to embrace fluid self-descriptions rather than fixed identities.» — Lee la fórmula del título como marcador entre muchos posibles, síntoma de la preferencia de los Burners por autodescripciones fluidas antes que por identidades fijas

«In speaking to these desires, Burning Man has become a ritualized space for those who seek spirituality but not religion and thus appropriates and ritualizes symbols from a variety of global cultures.» — Cierra el capítulo segundo: el festival se ha vuelto espacio ritualizado para quienes buscan espiritualidad y no religión, y por eso se apropia y ritualiza símbolos de culturas diversas

«Participants tend to speak of both spirituality and the experience of the festival itself as open and reflexive, emphasizing connectedness, experience, and personal authority.» — Registra el vocabulario compartido: se habla de la espiritualidad y del festival mismo como abiertos y reflexivos, con énfasis en la conexión, la experiencia y la autoridad personal

«Burning Man is not a religion. What self-respecting New Age cult would operate with no priests, no tithing, no doctrine, not even a shared belief in a higher power? Burning Man employs ritual, but it is ritual removed from the context of theology.» — Según Gilmore, un antiguo organizador formula la fórmula que da título al capítulo: ningún culto New Age que se respete operaría sin sacerdotes, sin diezmo, sin doctrina ni creencia compartida en un poder superior, y el festival emplea ritual sacado del contexto de la teología

«Burning Man is about having that experience, not about explaining it. In fact, if you can explain it, you’re probably not paying attention.» — El mismo organizador añade que el evento consiste en tener la experiencia, no en explicarla, y que quien puede explicarla probablemente no está atendiendo

«The rituals of Burning Man are no less mediated by a variety of cultural influences than those in traditional religious settings, but in this context there is a much greater awareness of interpretive plasticity.» — Acota la diferencia con los ritos religiosos: los del festival no están menos mediados por influencias culturales, pero aquí hay mucha más consciencia de la plasticidad interpretativa

«During the days (and even weeks) preceding the annual Burn, participants’ collective level of excitement and anticipation rises, fostering heightened expectations and charging perceptions of this climactic moment with elevated significance.» — Describe la preparación afectiva del rito: en los días y aun semanas previas sube la excitación colectiva y carga de significación el momento culminante

«Some participants ritualize the Burn by tossing an object into the fire as a form of personal sacrifice, or as a way to symbolically release a burden or pain that they no longer wish to endure.» — Consigna el gesto con que muchos ritualizan la quema: arrojar un objeto al fuego como sacrificio personal o para soltar simbólicamente una carga o un dolor

«Yet, although the annual themes have helped provoke numerous impressive works of art, other participants resist and criticize their promulgation, viewing them as attempts to delimit, constrain, or overdetermine artistic and personal expression.» — Consigna la objeción interna a los temas anuales: hay participantes que los critican como intentos de delimitar, restringir o sobredeterminar la expresión artística y personal

«Burners consistently extol the event’s semantic flexibility and will by and large uphold a heterodoxie ethos over any attempt to impose a unified set of meanings on the event.» — Registra la preferencia declarada de los Burners por la flexibilidad semántica y un ethos heterodoxo frente a todo intento de imponer un conjunto unificado de significados (la fuente imprime *heterodoxie* en lugar de *heterodox*)

«Many of the rituals, performances, and other creative works at Burning Man freely appropriate and hybridize a potentially infinite assortment of easily recognized religious symbols or other cultural motifs—from Mayan, Balinese, Islamic, or Shinto architecture to Buddhas, labyrinths, crosses, Vodou lwa, and many many others.» — Inventaria el material simbólico que el festival se apropia e hibrida: arquitectura maya, balinesa, islámica o sintoísta, budas, laberintos, cruces y los *lwa* del vodú

«Very often, the traditional meanings of these symbols are transgressed, parodied, or reversed, thereby situating Burning Man within a long lineage of festivals and carnivalesque events that have been called “rituals of reversal,” in which normative symbols, meanings, and hierarchies are deliberately inverted or otherwise distorted.» — Inscribe esa apropiación en el linaje de los *rituals of reversal*: los sentidos tradicionales de los símbolos se transgreden, parodian o invierten

«As participants play with, reshape, and sometimes ironically mock cultural sacred cows—Jesus or the American flag, for instance—the art, ritual, and performances of Burning Man serve to contest certain aspects of normative culture,» — Nombra las vacas sagradas con que se juega —Jesús, la bandera estadounidense— y la función que atribuye al arte y al ritual del festival: disputar ciertos aspectos de la cultura normativa

«While numerous theories could be engaged to analyze the rites of Burning Man, Victor Turner’s ideas about liminality and communitas, in particular, have a potent resonance.» — Declara qué teoría elige y por qué: entre muchas posibles, la liminalidad y la *communitas* de Victor Turner resuenan con fuerza en los ritos del festival

«While Turner’s ideas by no means perfectly describe Burning Man—evinced in part by the prominence of “competing discourses” in participants’ critique and contestation of various elements of the festival—something interesting, complicated, and reflexive is happening here as theories like Turner’s have come to be popularized and adopted as models for ritualization.» — Acota esa elección: las ideas de Turner no describen bien del todo al festival —lo muestra la prominencia de *discursos en competencia* en las críticas de los participantes—, y lo interesante es que esas teorías se hayan popularizado como modelos de ritualización

«Participants’ engagements with and narratives about ritual at Burning Man demonstrate how thoroughly religious ideas and symbols permeate our culture and are recursively mapped onto individuals and communities while at the same time rendering the semantic flexibility and instability of these concepts transparent.» — Deriva de esos relatos un doble efecto: muestran cuánto permean las ideas y símbolos religiosos la cultura y, a la vez, dejan a la vista la flexibilidad e inestabilidad semántica de esos conceptos

«Although officially the figure is genderless, “the Man” moniker suggests patriarchal and corporate authority, rendering it a potential scapegoat for collective anxiety and anger concerning the power structures of the default world.» — Lee el nombre de la efigie contra su neutralidad oficial: *the Man* sugiere autoridad patriarcal y corporativa, lo que la vuelve chivo expiatorio potencial de la ansiedad y la ira colectivas

«Yet the Man also remains open to identification with personalized notions of the self» — Añade el significado que tiene por más importante: la figura queda abierta a la identificación con nociones personalizadas del yo

«This dramatic gesture of both triumph and surrender signals the official commencement of the rite, and many people begin to whoop and sporadically chant, “Burn It! Burn It!”» — Describe el gesto que abre oficialmente el rito —triunfo y entrega a la vez— y el canto con que la multitud responde

«When the Man burns, I run up and throw something into the fire.» — Según Gilmore, un participante describe su gesto propio: correr al fuego y arrojar algo dentro cuando arde el Man

«When we begin, as dusk falls on the night of the Burn, we begin to concentrate on what is to come and enter what some might call a sacred space.» — Según Gilmore, otro participante describe la entrada en lo que algunos llamarían espacio sagrado al caer la noche de la quema

«In the beginning, the Burn was complete catharsis. The first time, I had no idea what to expect. For one, it was so different from the rituals that I knew— my Bar Mitzvah was nothing like this! The drums, the night, the flames, the spectacle, combined into an intoxicating whole. When the Man burned, you knew that something was happening. Shit was coming down. The old, the heavy, the burdensome, was going up in flames. The next day, where the Man had been was a flat bed of ashes, but you knew that it was to make room for the emptiness to return and hold sway for the coming year until the Man would return.» — Según Gilmore, un veterano recuerda la quema de los primeros años como catarsis completa, y el lecho de cenizas del día siguiente como sitio hecho para que el vacío volviera a reinar hasta el año próximo

«This sense of cathartic release and transformative potentiality remains the dominant narrative participants ascribe to this rite.» — Fija el relato dominante que los participantes atribuyen al rito: liberación catártica y potencia transformadora

«During the event’s early years, it sometimes seemed like the whole city was going up in flames on the night of the Burn, as artwork everywhere was put to the torch (sometimes without the artists’ permission), underscoring the anarchistic flavor of that era.» — Contrasta con el presente: en los primeros años parecía arder la ciudad entera la noche de la quema, con obras prendidas por doquier y a veces sin permiso de sus autores, lo que subraya el aire anarquista de esa época

«Many artists who design burnable art now choose to set fire to their pieces on some other night, so as to not compete with the “big” Burn or with one another, and much of the art now is not intended to be burned at all.» — Registra el cambio en el arte: quienes hacen piezas quemables eligen otra noche para no competir con la quema grande, y mucho del arte ya no está pensado para arder

«For example, from 1998 to 2001 the Burn was accented by four or five kerosene-powered fire cannons—designed by Jim Mason and dubbed the Impotence Compensation Project—which blasted 100-to 300-foot columns of flame straight up into the air, adding unmistakably to the gathered crowd’s enthusiasm when ignited.» — Fecha un accesorio del rito: entre 1998 y 2001 cuatro o cinco cañones de fuego a queroseno diseñados por Jim Mason y llamados Impotence Compensation Project lanzaban columnas de llama de treinta a noventa metros

«Eventually, however, this practice was halted owing to safety considerations.» — Consigna el final de esa práctica por razones de seguridad; la línea es corta y se cita entera

«However, another and widely celebrated result is that the towering pyre frequently generates beautiful swirling mini-tornadoes of smoke and dust that spiral away from the central fire—dubbed “ancestors” by some—a phenomenon that (to my recollection) never occurred before 2001.» — Registra un efecto de la pira elevada que los participantes celebraron y bautizaron: los remolinos de humo y polvo que giran alejándose del fuego central, llamados *ancestors*, no ocurrían antes de 2001

«However, most participants I spoke with resisted being told how to participate and perceived the games as phony, coercive, “Disneyesque,” and uncomfortably materialistic, given the quasi-monetary quality of the doubloons.» — Consigna el rechazo a los juegos de doblones que los organizadores propusieron: los participantes los vieron falsos, coercitivos, *disneyescos* y materialistas

«For example, one woman felt that in setting forth these games the organizers were dictating a “correct” way to engage in Burning Man, whereas she believed that the event was better experienced by finding one’s own way and remaining open to the unknown.» — Según Gilmore, una participante objetó que con esos juegos los organizadores dictaban una manera *correcta* de vivir el evento, cuando ella lo tenía por mejor vivido hallando el propio camino

«In an ironic twist, doubloon distribution was purposefully subverted by one of the organization’s volunteers who had been put in charge of dispensing the gold doubloons according to the stated rules of the game. However, he deliberately toyed with the rules and freely handed out numerous doubloons at random and among members of his own village—eventually leaving a large bowl of the coins on the bar of this camp’s community hub—and encouraged others to disseminate them throughout Black Rock City, by whatever means they saw fit.» — Narra la subversión desde dentro: el voluntario encargado de repartir los doblones según las reglas los entregó al azar y dejó un tazón lleno en la barra del centro comunitario de su campamento

«Yes! That’s what I love! They got angry! Little do they know, there are always subversive things put in these themes to provoke them. Art is not necessarily just blowing shit up, as the anarchists would have it… . I gave them a moral choice—you keep it, or you give it away, or you use it… . Beyond that, I didn’t say anything… . It was just an interactive game—and people had extraordinary experiences with these things and encountered real moral quandaries, and they had to make choices about what is of value—that was the theme—what is of value and how you find it. I had my own opinion about what that meant, but I’ve never directly stated what my own opinion is. I was urging them to think about a spiritual lesson, that what is ultimately of value cannot be possessed.» — Cita la respuesta de Harvey a ese enojo: en los temas siempre se ponen elementos subversivos para provocar, y el doblón ofrecía una elección moral —guardarlo, regalarlo o usarlo— con una lección espiritual, la de que lo que en última instancia vale no puede poseerse

«Yet on another level they illustrate the extent to which Burners dislike being told specifically how to participate or what the experience should mean.» — Lee esos juegos como prueba de otra cosa: el grado en que a los Burners les disgusta que se les diga cómo participar o qué debe significar la experiencia

«It seemed that the notion of “embodying aliens” and “absorbing others” was too abstract to take an immediate interest in.» — Consigna el fracaso del guion propuesto para el Observatorio de 2004: encarnar alienígenas y absorber al otro resultó demasiado abstracto para interesar

«Although some individuals did take advantage of the performance spaces, most of those whom I spoke with once again disliked being told how to participate and felt no real connection with Harvey’s concept (most had not even bothered to read the descriptive materials about the Observatory, which were available on-line before the event and handed out at the gate).» — Añade que la mayoría no sintió conexión con el concepto de Harvey y ni siquiera se molestó en leer los materiales descriptivos, disponibles en línea y repartidos en la puerta

«While most continue to greet the climactic Burn with considerable zeal, despite the various changes that both the ceremony and figure of the Man have undergone over time and despite the many differences of opinion about these changes, others long for what is perceived to have been a simpler time when the figure was readily accessible.» — Registra a la vez el entusiasmo mayoritario por la quema y la nostalgia de otros por una época que se tiene por más simple, cuando la figura era accesible

«It is not only longtime Burners who notice the increasingly polished and perhaps distant or disconnected tenor of the Burn. For example, one first-timer told me after the 2003 Burn that the preponderance of fire performers had made the event seem “too much like a Vegas show.”» — Consigna que el aire pulido y distante de la quema lo notan también los recién llegados: uno le dijo tras la quema de 2003 que tanto artista del fuego lo hacía parecer demasiado un espectáculo de Las Vegas

«Yet the first-timers’ equation of the Burn with a Las Vegas show also spoke to its increasingly professionalized aesthetic, and this in turn seems to have contributed to the Burn losing some of its visceral power.» — Extrae de esa comparación un diagnóstico: la estética cada vez más profesionalizada contribuyó a que la quema perdiera parte de su fuerza visceral

«Under no circumstances, however, is it permissible to barter or sell this coin, nor is it acceptable to collect more than one.» — Consigna la regla del juego: no se permite trocar ni vender la moneda, ni es aceptable juntar más de una

«On one level these games can be understood as Harvey’s artistic contribution to the event and as examples of the ritualistic, psychological, and spiritual intentionality with which he often attempts to imb» — Lee los juegos como contribución artística del propio Harvey y como muestra de la intencionalidad ritual, psicológica y espiritual con que suele cargar el evento; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«this sculpture was faithfully modeled after the simpler eight-foot effigy first created by Larry Harvey and Jerry James in 1986 (fig. 3). With the help of a small crew of friends, the Early Man was erected on the last full day of the festival (Sunday) at the site where the much larger “new” Man and its base had burned the night before, thus symbolically invoking the rebirth of a simpler time.» — Describe el Early Man de 2003: réplica fiel de la efigie de dos metros y medio que Larry Harvey y Jerry James hicieron en 1986, levantada el último día en el sitio donde el Man grande había ardido la noche anterior

«By the light of day, while it was unclear whether or not most observers recognized the structure’s historical reference, participants readily embraced it as a ritual fetish by adorning it with a variety of small personal objects such as beads, playing cards, images of George W. Bush, and pouches.» — Consigna cómo se lo apropiaron los participantes: como fetiche ritual adornado con cuentas, naipes, imágenes de George W. Bush y bolsitas

«Yet, in a rather ironic comment on the changes and increased regulations, when Ben and Gomonk attempted to burn this simple structure that evening they were cited by BLM authorities for an unplanned and unregulated burn.» — Registra la ironía del desenlace: al intentar quemar esa estructura sencilla, sus autores fueron citados por la BLM por quema no planeada ni regulada

«This incident led to a new agreement between Burning Man organizers and the BLM clarifying that anyone can burn their own art, whether preregistered or not, so long as it is safely conducted and placed on a “burn platform” (constructed from sheets of corrugated steel) to prevent scaring the playa surface.» — Consigna el acuerdo que salió del incidente: cualquiera puede quemar su propia obra, preinscrita o no, si lo hace con seguridad y sobre una plataforma de quema (la fuente imprime *scaring* donde se esperaría *scarring*)

«Many concluded that the act had been a violation of the community’s principle of civic responsibility because the perpetrator had set fire to an» — Consigna la reacción mayoritaria a la quema anticipada de 2007: la tuvieron por violación del principio comunitario de responsabilidad cívica; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Many others, however, applauded the preemptive Burn, viewing it as an act of symbolic reclamation, taking the Man back from the routinized bureaucracy of the Borg and restoring some of the anarchistic and prankster spirit of the old Cacophony Society.» — Consigna la reacción contraria sin armonizarla: otros aplaudieron la quema anticipada como acto de reapropiación simbólica que devolvía el Man a manos de la comunidad y restauraba el espíritu bromista de la vieja Cacophony Society

«Individuals in this camp also tended to feel that the charges (and Addis’s eventual sentence of 12 to 48 months in prison, plus $25,000 in restitution) were far and away in excess of an appropriate punishment or consequence for his actions.» — Da la pena impuesta a Paul Addis —de 12 a 48 meses de prisión y 25 000 dólares de restitución— y consigna que quienes lo aplaudían la tuvieron por desproporcionada

«One participant I spoke with speculated that this difference in opinion seemed to be correlated with how long one had been attending Burning Man, such that those who were “newbies,” or relatively new, tended to view the “early Burn” as an unforgivable crime against the community, whereas “old-timers” tended to empathize—to at least some degree— with Addis’s actions.» — Recoge la hipótesis de un participante sobre el reparto de opiniones: los novatos veían en la quema anticipada un crimen imperdonable contra la comunidad y los veteranos tendían a empatizar

«Other participants underscored the extent to which the early Burn (and by extension the presence or absence of the Man) was ultimately meaningless in terms of their total experience of the event that year, telling me that the early Burn had generated discussion for about a day or so before they moved on and continued to enjoy the festival as usual.» — Consigna una tercera reacción: para otros el episodio fue finalmente irrelevante, tema de un día antes de seguir disfrutando el festival

«I was also told that Harvey’s own response had been to laugh and say, “It’s just lumber.”» — Cita, de segunda mano, la respuesta que atribuyen a Harvey: reírse y decir que es solo madera

«On the one hand, it demonstrated that the Man is not the possession of one person, or even several people; it is a public icon that belongs to all Burners, who are expressly and collectively invited to experience it as their own and to imbue it with their own meanings.» — Lee un primer sentido del episodio: el Man no es posesión de nadie sino icono público de todos los Burners, invitados a experimentarlo como propio y a cargarlo de sus significados

«On the other hand, the “early Burn” shifted the focus from the collective to the individual, as Addis—whose mugshot showed him adorned in black and red face paint, grinning widely—reaped a great deal of media attention.» — Lee el sentido contrario del mismo acto: desplazó el foco de lo colectivo a lo individual, con Addis cosechando atención mediática, su ficha policial con la cara pintada de negro y rojo

«Both the “early Burn” and the Early Man illustrate some of the tensions Burners experience between an idealized authenticity, a desire for a kind of temporary autonomous zone fully removed from the taint of the ordinary, commodified, and regulated and the reality of an event that must increasingly interact with, and at times capitulate to, the demands of the default world.» — Reúne los dos episodios como muestra de una tensión: entre la autenticidad idealizada de una zona autónoma temporal sin contacto con lo ordinario y la realidad de un evento que ha de tratar con el mundo por defecto

«This longing for the idealized and romanticized “purity” of the event’s earlier days—when its much smaller size and relative anonymity, away from the prying eyes of law enforcement and the mass media, fostered a greater sense of personal freedom for some participants—is a constant refrain in the public narratives surrounding this festival.» — Nombra el estribillo constante de los relatos públicos sobre el festival: la añoranza de la *pureza* idealizada de sus primeros años

«Likewise, the Early Man spoke to a desire to re-create an imagined “good old days” that cannot in actuality ever be recaptured and that in all likelihood never really existed quite as most people might imagine it, while the “early Burn” attempted to destroy symbolically the routinized behemoth the event had become.» — Distingue los dos gestos: el Early Man quiso recrear unos buenos viejos tiempos que acaso nunca existieron así, y la quema anticipada quiso destruir simbólicamente el mastodonte rutinizado en que el evento se convirtió

«Both the nostalgic rite of the Early Man and the reactionary rite of the “early Burn” signaled a desire to recall or re-create a moment of social “anti-structure” (to use Victor Turner’s term), leading inadvertently but perhaps inevitably to a crackdown by “structural” social forces.» — Reúne los dos ritos bajo la categoría de Turner: uno nostálgico y otro reactivo, ambos queriendo recobrar un momento de *antiestructura* social y llevando por ello a la reacción de las fuerzas *estructurales*

«While Turner’s models by no means perfectly mirror Burning Man and easily fracture if too rigidly applied to any context, they help to account for some of the apparent discord between the ideal and the reality encountered within the event and its rites.» — Vuelve a acotar el uso de Turner: sus modelos no reflejan bien al festival y se quiebran si se aplican con rigidez, pero ayudan a dar cuenta de la discordia entre el ideal y la realidad del evento

«Participants also often encounter a feeling of communitas during the weeklong event, as evidenced in numerous reports of social, emotional, and cognitive liberation, alongside the generalized feeling of unity that many say they experience in being a Burner.» — Aplica la *communitas* a la semana entera y no solo a los ritos: se reporta liberación social, emocional y cognitiva junto al sentimiento general de unidad que da ser Burner

«Beginning in 1993, Ozan began sculpting conical towers during the festival made out of rebar and wire mesh and covered with dried mud from the playa’s claylike surface, dubbing these “lingams,” after the sacred phallic symbols of the Hindu god Shiva. These hollow spires would then be filled with wood and set aflame, forming a beautiful glowing, crackled chimney.» — Fecha en 1993 el principio de las óperas: Pepe Ozan esculpía torres cónicas de varilla y malla cubiertas de barro de la playa, llamadas *lingams* por los símbolos fálicos sagrados del dios hindú Shiva, y las llenaba de leña para prenderlas

«In 1996, after a few years of progressively more complex and elaborate versions of the lingams, Ozan began to produce a series of scripted and scored operas to accompany his sculptures. These performances were traditionally held on the night before the Burning of the Man, meaning that at that time the operas were on Saturday night and came to be perceived as the festival’s other “big show.”» — Fecha en 1996 el paso a las óperas escritas y con partitura que acompañaban las esculturas, montadas la noche anterior a la quema y tenidas por el otro *gran espectáculo* del festival

«Inspired in part by the Fertility theme in 1997, the second operatic pageant, The Temple of Ishtar, was meant to dramatize the sacred marriage between Ishtar, the ancient Mesopotamian Goddess of love and war, and her consort, Dumuzi.» — Describe la segunda ópera, The Temple of Ishtar de 1997, hecha para dramatizar el matrimonio sagrado entre Ishtar, diosa mesopotámica del amor y la guerra, y su consorte Dumuzi

«The following year, The Temple of Rudra adopted a Hindu theme and featured insectoid figures assuming postures reminiscent of a dancing Shiva.» — Describe la tercera, The Temple of Rudra, de tema hindú, con figuras insectoides en posturas que evocaban un Shiva danzante

«Although the motifs of Le Mystere de Papa Loko were inspired by the myths and rituals of Haitian Vodou, it was never intended to be an authentic Vodou rite.» — Acota la apropiación de la ópera de 1999: sus motivos se inspiraron en los mitos y ritos del vodú haitiano, pero nunca se pretendió un rito vodú auténtico

«In overtly recognizing—and embracing—the syncretic cultural forces operating in the contexts of both Vodou and Burning Man, this opera sought to open up a space for dynamic cultural exchange in the context of a festival in which rampant cultural appropriation is not always acknowledged or self-aware.» — Consigna lo que la ópera se proponía: abrir espacio de intercambio cultural reconociendo las fuerzas sincréticas del vodú y del festival, en un evento donde la apropiación cultural no siempre se admite ni se sabe

«As one opera participant noted, they “may be more imitation of ritual than actual ritual,” thus indicating some awareness of the dynamic tensions between mimesis, ritual authenticity, and make-believe on the part of participants.» — Según Gilmore, un participante de la ópera dijo que acaso fueran más imitación de ritual que ritual efectivo, señal de que la tensión entre mímesis, autenticidad ritual y juego se conocía desde dentro

«The opera producers were not unaware of this critique, and in 1999 one of the performers satirized this perspective as he called out to the gathering crowd, “Stay away from the opera! The opera is boring!”» — Consigna cómo los propios productores satirizaron la crítica: en 1999 un actor gritaba a la multitud que se alejara de la ópera porque era aburrida

«Ozan, Fülling, and the others responded to this criticism by devising a way for the audience to interact with and contribute to the performances, thus attempting to make them more like rites in which more participants could engage.» — Registra la respuesta a esa crítica: Ozan, Fülling y los demás idearon un modo de que el público interviniera, para volver las óperas más ritos que espectáculos

«This collective threshold crossing was no coincidence, as Le Mystere de Papa Loko’s creators directly and self-consciously appropriated elements of ritual theory by structuring the performance as a “rite of transformation” in which “devotees”—as performers were referred to— passed through three distinct stages.» — Consigna que la apropiación de teoría ritual fue deliberada: los creadores de Le Mystère de Papa Loko estructuraron la performance como *rite of transformation* con tres fases por las que pasaban los llamados *devotees*

«Yet in consciously playing at the slippery border between theater and worship, many performers found these rites deeply moving and transformative.» — Registra el efecto sobre los ejecutantes: jugar a conciencia en la frontera resbaladiza entre teatro y culto les resultó hondamente conmovedor y transformador

«There appears to have been a significant difference between the insider and outsider perspectives on the operas.» — Señala la diferencia entre la mirada de adentro y la de afuera sobre las óperas; la línea es corta y se cita entera

«The language and framework here is unmistakably inspired by Turner’s ideas about liminality, three-stage rites of passage, and social dramas.» — Nombra la fuente del vocabulario de esa estructura: las ideas de Turner sobre liminalidad, ritos de paso en tres fases y dramas sociales

«By engaging in explicit dialogue with ritual and performance theory, this opera provided a conspicuous example of the extent to which Turner sometimes shows up in both general and specific ways at Burning Man.» — Toma la ópera como ejemplo conspicuo de hasta dónde Turner comparece en el festival, en modos generales y específicos

«In an intentional move away from appropriating ritual motifs associated with specific and living religious cultures, The Thar-Taurs of Atlan—as the opera was called that year—invoked a fanciful Atlantian theme and took place at the foot of a large pyramidal structure placed closer in to the main camp area than the previous opera sculptures had been.» — Consigna el giro de 2000: para dejar de apropiarse motivos de culturas religiosas vivas, la ópera de ese año, The Thar-Taurs of Atlan, invocó un tema atlante de fantasía

«The performance featured “Lunar Minotaurs and Solar Snake Priestesses” who dragged a “massive flaming Lingam across the playa to ignite the Yoni gateway.”» — Describe esa última ópera: minotauros lunares y sacerdotisas de la serpiente solar arrastrando un lingam en llamas por la playa para encender el portal yoni

«However, a core community with roots in these operas continued to attend and camp together, occasionally producing smaller-scale rites and artwork on the playa and elsewhere.» — Registra lo que quedó tras el fin de la serie: una comunidad de raíz operística que siguió acampando junta y produciendo ritos y obras de menor escala

«The retreat of the operas inadvertently made way for another large-scale ritual event to become a beloved annual feature of the festival beginning in 2000:» — Enlaza el fin de las óperas con el comienzo de los Templos en 2000, que ocuparon sin proponérselo ese lugar de gran rito anual

«According to Best’s vision, the Temple of Tears was conceived as “a place where participants can commemorate, remember, venerate, bid farewell, excoriate, exorcise, celebrate, and above all, honor those whose loss has moved them.» — Cita la intención declarada de David Best para el Temple of Tears: sitio para conmemorar, recordar, venerar, despedir, execrar, exorcizar, celebrar y sobre todo honrar a quienes se ha perdido

«The stated intention of these structures changed slightly over the years—for example, the Temple of Joy was meant to be a place “to reflect upon the gifts we have received from those we love, both living and dead, and to consider how these gifts have changed our lives”—but the focus continued to be mourning and loss:» — Registra el desplazamiento de la intención declarada de los Templos: el Temple of Joy se propuso como sitio para pensar los dones recibidos de quienes se ama, vivos y muertos, pero el foco siguió siendo el duelo y la pérdida

«Several times throughout the day Best asked Mausoleum visitors to put up their right hands: “That’s the person who committed suicide, alone and agonized. Put your left hand close to you. That’s the child who died of leukemia, surrounded by love and support. Now move the two hands together and lift them.” Best’s point was that “those who died amid love will help liberate those who died in anguish.”» — Cita el gesto ritual que David Best proponía a los visitantes del Mausoleo: una mano por el suicida muerto solo y en agonía, la otra por el niño muerto de leucemia rodeado de amor, y juntarlas, porque quienes murieron en el amor ayudarán a liberar a quienes murieron en la angustia

«On many occasions, the ritual burning of the Temple on Sunday night has begun with a rendition of “Amazing Grace,” often sung by Marisa Lenhart, an operatically trained soprano. The crowd typically becomes hushed as the Temple ignites, and the general tenor of participants’ celebration tends to be at a lower key on Sunday than on the previous evenings.» — Describe la liturgia de la quema del Templo los domingos por la noche: abre con *Amazing Grace*, a menudo cantada por la soprano Marisa Lenhart, y la celebración baja de tono respecto de las noches anteriores

«Typically, the gathered crowd tends to be lively and a bit impatient right up to the moment when the Temple catches fire, at which point the several thousand people in attendance fall absolutely silent, and the only sound is that of the crackling flame.» — Consigna el contraste con la quema del Man: al prender el Templo, varios miles de personas caen en silencio absoluto y solo se oye el crepitar

«As the flames creep up and engulf the tower, this silence might be punctuated by an occasional “om” or a reverent song, intonation, or prayer, but anyone who seems disrespectful is instantly shushed by those who are nearby until the structure begins to collapse and the crowd finally begins to cheer with joy and awe.» — Detalla cómo se sostiene ese silencio: algún *om*, un canto o una plegaria lo puntúan, y a quien parezca irrespetuoso lo callan al instante hasta que la estructura se derrumba

«He also comforted those who seemed in need of solace or companionship. For example, the grandmother of a friend of mine died just a few days before the event in 2002, prompting my friend to go straight out to the Temple on her arrival in Black Rock City. Best approached her, presumably observing her grief, and held her while she cried her heart out. Her partner shared in this experience with her and, recounting it for me later, referred to the power this shared rite had also had for him, saying, with a tinge of irony, “I miss church.”» — Narra el papel pastoral de Best con una doliente cuya abuela había muerto días antes, y la frase con que la pareja de ella resumió el rito compartido, con un dejo de ironía: que extraña la iglesia

«Many individuals were able to find some comfort and solace in the Temples, as well in the arms of others, often including the fatherly and quasi-priestly figure of David Best.» — Generaliza ese consuelo: mucha gente lo halló en los Templos y en los brazos de otros, con frecuencia los de la figura paternal y casi sacerdotal de David Best

«In some ways, the emotional potency and sense of the sacred encountered by many at the Temple has eclipsed the Burn as the most visceral large-scale rite in the event’s later years. As a consequence of their focus on memory, mourning, and death, the Temples provide a poignant reminder of loss that serves to return participants to the gravity» — Sostiene que la potencia emocional del Templo eclipsó a la quema del Man como el rito visceral del evento en sus años tardíos; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y sigue en la 104 con *of the “real” world while also creating a powerful and accessible healing ritual*

«Further, given the direct invitation, participants are now much more likely to leave their personal offerings and sacrifices at the Temples rather than at the Man, as was once a common practice.» — Registra el desplazamiento material de las ofrendas: se dejan ahora en los Templos y no en el Man, como antes era costumbre

«A key difference here, I believe, is that participants are given just enough direction regarding the structure’s meaning to remain free to devise their own individual experiences and interpretations, unweighted by the constraints of dogma.» — Formula la diferencia que tiene por clave: en el Templo se da apenas la dirección suficiente sobre el sentido de la estructura para que cada quien invente su experiencia sin el peso del dogma

«As the burning of the Man becomes an ever more elaborate pyrotechnic spectacle, the more modest Temple burns seem to better capture and evoke the simple and direct spirit that the Burning Man previously represented to some participants.» — Contrapone los dos fuegos: mientras la quema del Man se vuelve espectáculo pirotécnico, la del Templo, más modesta, recoge mejor el espíritu simple y directo que el Man representaba antes

«Also, as access to the Man has been restricted, participants seem to prefer the more immediate and embodied interaction and ritualization available to them through the Temples rather than the occasionally overly complex and abstract ritual modes devised by Harvey as aspects of the Man’s platforms.» — Explica la preferencia por el Templo también por acceso: la interacción inmediata y encarnada que ofrece frente a los modos rituales a veces demasiado complejos y abstractos que Harvey ideó para las plataformas del Man

«Many participants report that—both emotionally and aesthetically—they now prefer the quiet intensity of the Sunday night Temple burns to the sheer pyrotechnic spectacle of Saturday’s Burning of the Man.» — Da el resultado de ese desplazamiento: muchos prefieren ahora la intensidad callada de la quema del Templo del domingo al espectáculo pirotécnico del sábado

«On one level, this displacement is but another symptom of participants’ active and ongoing critique of Burning Man’s rites.» — Lee ese desplazamiento como un síntoma más de la crítica activa y continua que los participantes hacen de los ritos del festival

«On most of the occasions that I visited the Temple of Honor, only a handful of people were scribbling in solitude on its walls, but for the most part people were casually chatting with one another or randomly wandering through as they might at any other large-scale installation on the playa.» — Acota la solemnidad con lo que observó: en la mayoría de sus visitas al Temple of Honor solo unos cuantos escribían en los muros y el resto charlaba o deambulaba como en cualquier instalación grande

«However, on the last day, just hours before the structure was to be burned, the tangible and often intense sense of solemnity and spirituality returned as I observed numerous individuals writing, weeping, and comforting one another, with one man strumming a guitar.» — Consigna el retorno de la solemnidad en las horas previas a la quema, con gente escribiendo, llorando y consolándose, y un hombre rasgueando una guitarra

«For the 2004 Temple of Stars, Best returned to the use of plywood puzzle remnants as construction material, although this Temple differed from previous incarnations in its enormous width and height. With a central tower ascending one hundred feet, the Temple of Stars featured walkways extending outward from either side of a central, two-story space, stretching a quarter of a mile in length» — Describe el Temple of Stars de 2004: vuelta a los recortes de rompecabezas de triplay, torre central de treinta metros y pasarelas de cuatrocientos metros de largo

«In 2005 and 2006 the leadership was transferred to longtime Temple volunteer Mark Grieve, whose Shinto-inspired Temple of Dreams in 2005 featured a collection of varying-sized huts and pagodas stained blood red, often marked by torii gates, and whose 2006 Temple of Hope constituted an assemblage of conical white towers.» — Registra el relevo en la dirección de los Templos: Mark Grieve, voluntario de años, hizo en 2005 el Temple of Dreams de inspiración sintoísta, con chozas y pagodas teñidas de rojo sangre y puertas *torii*, y en 2006 el Temple of Hope de torres blancas cónicas

«The dispersed and exposed focal points were intended to evoke a series of decentralized ancestor shrines, once again shifting participants’ interactions with these structures, although the ritual purpose and contemplative atmospere remained constant.» — Acota qué cambió y qué no: los focos dispersos evocaban santuarios de ancestros descentralizados y desplazaban de nuevo el trato con la estructura, pero el propósito ritual y la atmósfera contemplativa siguieron constantes (la fuente imprime *atmospere*)

«Each subsequent manifestation of the Temple was likewise designed as a chapel-like structure in which participants could congregate to honor and remember the dead.» — Fija la forma común de todos los Templos: estructura a modo de capilla donde congregarse a honrar y recordar a los muertos

«People sat in corners and strolled along the walls, writing tributes, reading those of others, weeping and quietly contemplating their most personal and painful sorrows while sharing this grief publicly with others.» — Describe lo que allí ocurre: sentarse en los rincones, recorrer los muros, escribir tributos, leer los ajenos, llorar y contemplar en silencio los dolores más personales compartiéndolos en público

«Nearly every available space on the Temple’s walls was inscribed with memorials to the dead, such as “To my last baby who died, who will join two others,” and “To the» — Transcribe dos de las inscripciones que cubrían los muros del Templo, memoriales a los muertos escritos por los participantes; la segunda se corta en un salto de segmento del troceo y remata *family I never knew*

«When asked if they participated in any rituals or ritual-like activities at Burning Man, participants offered a wide variety of responses. Many named events such as the Burn, the operas, and the Temples, and some mentioned popular new age practices.» — Registra la variedad de lo que los participantes llaman ritual: la quema, las óperas, los Templos y también prácticas *new age* corrientes

«These have included group and individual meditation practice, Reiki attunement, yoga classes, Kabbalah classes, chakra balancing, aura cleansing, Wiccan circles, Unitarian Universalist worship services, Shabbat services, Hebraic dream interpretation, and kecak» — Inventaria las prácticas rituales que se ofrecen en el festival, unas satíricas y otras en plena seriedad: meditación, sintonización de Reiki, clases de yoga y de cábala, equilibrio de chakras, limpieza de auras, círculos wiccanos, oficios unitarios universalistas, servicios de Shabat e interpretación hebraica de sueños

«We have an opening ritual of a circle where we talk about our expectations and set a precedent for the energy in our space. We are a group of healers, and therefore we try to create a positive healing energy and environment.» — Según Gilmore, un campamento de sanadores describe su rito de apertura en círculo, donde se hablan las expectativas y se fija la energía del espacio

«I applaud at the setting sun. There’s this moment when the sun drops below the mountains, and lots of people take a moment to clap and whoop and holler, as if thanking it for being there and welcoming the coming night—because nighttime is extra magical on the playa.» — Según Gilmore, un participante describe el aplauso al sol poniente, con el que se agradece su presencia y se da la bienvenida a la noche

«It was determined that it was time to “kill” the camp, and a flag emblazoned with the camp logo, Motel 666, a corruption of a well-known corporate brand, was draped over an empty coffin. The group marched in a funeral procession, with a trumpet sounding “Taps,” to the site where the Man had burned on the previous night, and the coffin was set down on this spot.» — Narra un rito de pequeña escala: el *funeral* con que un campamento temático se dio por muerto, con la bandera del logo Motel 666 sobre un ataúd vacío llevado en marcha fúnebre al sitio donde el Man había ardido

«A communion of sorts, consisting of a bottle of Jamison’s Irish Whiskey and a bag of peanuts (said to have been the only food and alcohol that the original camp founders had brought with them their first year), was passed around the assembly. Individuals stepped forward one by one to say a few words about the history of the group and what “the Motel” had meant to them and to recognize some of the group’s founding members who were not present.» — Describe la comunión de ese rito: una botella de whisky irlandés y una bolsa de cacahuates —lo único que los fundadores del campamento llevaron el primer año— pasadas entre los presentes, con palabras de cada quien sobre lo que el Motel significó

«Finally, the coffin was ignited with bottle rockets. In this way campmates both reinforced their shared identity as “Moteliers” and recognized some of the tensions that had emerged in the group.» — Cierra el relato del rito: el ataúd encendido con cohetes, con lo que los del campamento reforzaron su identidad compartida y reconocieron las tensiones surgidas en el grupo

«In recent years the Burning Man organization has facilitated wedding ceremonies by keeping a list of participants who are licensed to perform legal marriages in the state of Nevada and, if requested, will put engaged couples in touch with these individuals, adding a whole new spin to the cliché of running off to Nevada to get married.» — Consigna que la organización facilita las bodas llevando lista de participantes habilitados para casar legalmente en Nevada

«Our chaplain—a female friend who had just been ordained—read from the Egyptian Book of the Dead. We exchanged vows and were blessed beneath the Temple and amongst friends and people we didn’t even know but who were right there with us, some in tears, as we were. It was unforgettable, and our families wished they could have been there with us. But it was so personal and real and meaningful to the two of us.» — Según Gilmore, una pareja describe su boda en el festival: una amiga recién ordenada como capellana leyó del Libro de los Muertos egipcio, y el rito les resultó personal, real y significativo aunque sus familias no estuvieran

«Although the majority of participants I queried stated that they took part in some form of ritual, several were adamant that they did not.» — Consigna el desacuerdo dentro del campo: aunque la mayoría dijo tomar parte en alguna forma de ritual, varios sostuvieron con firmeza que no

«Given Burners’ diversity of opinion about all matters of religion, ritual, and spirituality, statements such as this reflect participants’ tendencies not only to distance Burning Man from religion but also to ascribe idealized notions of immediacy and authenticity to the event.» — Lee esas negativas como síntoma de una doble tendencia: alejar el festival de la religión y atribuirle nociones idealizadas de inmediatez y autenticidad

«It is significant that while routinization is often taken to be a defining feature of ritual, at Burning Man it is resisted and critiqued as a barrier to spontaneity, immediacy, and authenticity.» — Señala una inversión: la rutinización, tenida a menudo por rasgo definitorio del ritual, es aquí resistida y criticada como obstáculo a la espontaneidad, la inmediatez y la autenticidad

«While the central icon of the Burning Man is burdened with no explicitly stated or defined meaning, it invites participants to project a host of potential meanings and interpretations—either personal or communal—onto its naked framework, which has long served as a vessel of catharsis and transformation.» — Recapitula el capítulo: el icono central no lleva significado enunciado y por eso invita a proyectar sentidos personales o comunales sobre su armazón desnudo

«Although ritual structures and assorted mythic or religious figures may have been employed largely as theatrical leitmotivs, the producers and performers themselves often experienced transformation in these “rites of passage.”» — Acota el caso de las óperas: las estructuras rituales y las figuras míticas o religiosas se usaron sobre todo como leitmotivs teatrales, y aun así productores y ejecutantes vivieron transformación

«Ultimately, both scholarly and popular constructions of ritual’s functions and capabilities must be understood as products of continuously negotiated cultural understandings, visions, and issues.» — Sitúa en el mismo plano las construcciones académicas y las populares del ritual: unas y otras son productos de entendimientos culturales negociados de continuo

«In this regard, the apparent resonance between Burning Man and Turner stems in large part from the fact that members of Western cultures now often look both explicitly and implicitly to these concepts as models for what rituals are and how rituals should be when creating alternative forms of ritual expression.» — Explica de dónde viene la resonancia entre el festival y Turner: los miembros de las culturas occidentales miran hoy esos conceptos como modelos de lo que el ritual es y debería ser

«Other theories have also occasionally exerted a special influence on the event’s plans and annual themes.» — Consigna que otras teorías han influido de tanto en tanto en los planes y los temas anuales del evento; la línea es corta y se cita entera

«By inscribing ritual time as cyclical and outside the measure of the ordinary, this passage is evocative of Mircea Eliade’s notion of illud tempus (sacred time) and of ritual and religion as constituting an “eternal return” to this sacred temporal nexus.» — Enlaza el texto del tema Wheel of Time con el *illud tempus* de Mircea Eliade y con la idea del ritual como *eterno retorno* a ese nudo temporal sagrado

«In 2003, when the Beyond Belief theme expressly invited reflection on ritual and religious issues, another of Eliade’s key concepts was referenced when the Man’s central locale was labeled the “axis mundi” (world center) on a Black Rock City map, thus explicitly inscribing this long-extant correspondence and constituting another of the more obvious appeals to academic theory in devising Burning Man’s ritual frameworks.» — Consigna otra apelación explícita a la teoría académica: en 2003 el mapa de Black Rock City rotuló *axis mundi* el sitio central del Man, con el concepto de Eliade

«Because ritual theorists such as Turner and Eliade were, on a metalevel, saying as much if not more about Western culture in general—and popular countercultures in particular—than they were about the indigenous peoples who were their supposed subjects, their ideas often speak to people embedded in alternative contexts such as Burning Man in powerful ways.» — Propone una razón de la afinidad: en un metanivel, Turner y Eliade decían tanto o más sobre la cultura occidental y sus contraculturas que sobre los pueblos indígenas que eran su objeto supuesto (donde la cita imprime *metalevel*, el crudo parte *meta-level* con guion de fin de renglón y la extracción por programa lo unió)

«In this regard, the popularization of theoretical models for ritual at Burning Man may be attributable not so much to any essential accuracy or universal applicability of these theories (although this may be partly true) but more because both Burning Man’s rituals and ritual theories have emerged from—and in critical opposition to— default Western cultural contexts.» — Acota esa lectura: la popularización de esos modelos no se debería tanto a su exactitud esencial o su aplicabilidad universal como a que ritos y teorías salieron por igual de contextos occidentales y en oposición crítica a ellos

«In enacting ritual without dogma, Burning Man provides spaces to ritualize a spirituality that is conceptually positioned as distinct from religion, thus calling into question both popular and scholarly understandings of what constitutes religion, spirituality, and ritual in the first place.» — Cierra el capítulo tercero: al ejecutar ritual sin dogma, el festival abre espacios para ritualizar una espiritualidad puesta como distinta de la religión, y con ello pone en cuestión lo que popular y académicamente se tiene por religión, espiritualidad y ritual

«Yet even while Burners tend to locate these understandings in opposition to those held to be endemic to default culture, a limitless host of religious themes, cultural symbols, and even ritual theories are evoked, performed, and played with as participants negotiate and frame their experiences with this event.» — Acota el cierre: aunque los Burners sitúan esos entendimientos en oposición a la cultura por defecto, se evocan, ejecutan y juegan un sinfín de temas religiosos, símbolos culturales y hasta teorías rituales

«Opportunities for personal or social transformation are often cited as among the definitive qualities of pilgrimages, and in this regard Burning Man does not disappoint.» — Enlaza el festival con la peregrinación por su rasgo definitorio: las ocasiones de transformación personal o social

«Of the hundreds of individuals I surveyed and interviewed, I was not surprised that nearly three-fourths replied affirmatively when asked,» — Da la proporción de su encuesta: casi tres cuartas partes respondieron afirmativamente a la pregunta por la transformación

«What was somewhat surprising was that a strong majority of those individuals who felt somehow transformed, more than three-fourths, referred directly or inferentially to various aspects of Burning Man’s ethical framework as sources of their personal or perspectival change» — Señala el hallazgo que no esperaba: de quienes se sintieron transformados, más de tres cuartas partes remitieron al marco ético del propio festival como fuente del cambio

«In particular, respondents most frequently spoke of community, self-expression, and self-reliance —sometimes as distinct concepts but usually as interrelated themes indicating some exchange between self and other—as keys to their experiences of transformation through the event.» — Nombra las tres claves más citadas: comunidad, autoexpresión y autosuficiencia, a veces por separado y casi siempre entrelazadas como intercambio entre uno y otro

«The challenge of surviving in the desert was another commonly cited factor, and with its vast, empty, and inhospitable terrain it is easy to see the playa as a blank slate or temporary autonomous zone on which new identities may be inscribed and where anything is conceivable.» — Añade el desafío de sobrevivir en el desierto: el terreno vasto, vacío e inhóspito se deja ver como pizarra en blanco o zona autónoma temporal donde inscribir identidades nuevas

«Over the course of my interviews and other conversations with participants, I was repeatedly struck by the consistency with which they reflected the event’s ethos to me in various ways, and no one was telling me anything about their experiences that I didn’t, on some level, expect to hear.» — Consigna una perplejidad de método: la consistencia con que los participantes le devolvían el ethos del evento, sin decirle nada que en algún nivel no esperara oír

«My first reaction was to assume that this simply meant my comprehension of the field was solid; I had done my homework, and my conclusions seemed reliable.» — Registra su primera lectura de esa consistencia: que su comprensión del campo era sólida

«Yet on reflection, I began to understand that the participants were absorbing the event’s ethos and reflecting it back out onto the rest of the culture of Burning Man, where it was in turn reabsorbed and reflected.» — Enmienda esa lectura: los participantes absorbían el ethos del evento y lo reflejaban de vuelta sobre la cultura del festival, donde volvía a ser absorbido y reflejado

«With this insight, I came to understand that Burning Man’s ideology is both performative and reflexive—as these concepts are both enacted and rendered efficacious—constructing an ethos that loosely frames the festival’s contexts and that participants often carry back to the default world.» — Deriva de ahí su caracterización de la ideología del festival: performativa y reflexiva a la vez, un ethos que enmarca sin apretar y que los participantes se llevan al mundo por defecto

«In this regard, participation in Burning Man often results not just in some internal sense of selftransformation but also in having an impact on how people act and interact in the larger world, as the performance of these values often serves to transform or sharpen participants’ already held worldviews.» — Extiende el efecto fuera del evento: la participación no solo da un sentido interno de transformación, sino que incide en cómo la gente actúa en el mundo mayor (la fuente imprime *selftransformation*, palabra que el troceo dejó pegada en el corte de renglón)

«Turner saw pilgrimages, like rites of passage, as mechanisms for prompting communitas and effecting changes in status or identity, and this narrative can easily be read into Burning Man.» — Expone el modelo de Turner sobre la peregrinación como mecanismo de *communitas* y de cambio de estatus o identidad, y dice que ese relato se deja leer con facilidad en el festival

«In spite of the widespread absorption and performance of the event’s ethos, participants and organizers alike also note that it is not necessarily universally embraced or enacted.» — Acota la difusión de ese ethos: participantes y organizadores señalan por igual que no todos lo abrazan ni lo practican

«Larry Harvey has often asserted, “People often come to Burning Man to enjoy the freedom. They stay, however, and contribute more each year, because of the community.”» — Cita la fórmula con que Harvey distingue el motivo de llegada del de permanencia: se viene por la libertad y se vuelve, aportando más cada año, por la comunidad

«These respondents used the term community in multiple but not mutually exclusive ways.6 For some, it was an idea that encompassed an overarching sense of unity and solidarity in “Black Rock citizenship”; for others, it indicated a physical community—that is, the individuals who were their friends, companions, and loved ones.» — Desglosa los sentidos con que se usa la palabra comunidad: unidad y solidaridad en la *ciudadanía de Black Rock*, y también la comunidad física de amigos, compañeros y seres queridos (el *6* dentro de la cita es la llamada de nota, que el troceo pega a la palabra anterior)

«Many reported having discovered through Burning Man a community of new friends and like-minded others who continued as important relationships in their lives beyond the spatial and temporal confines of Black Rock City.» — Registra la duración de esos lazos: relaciones halladas en el festival que siguen importando fuera de los límites espaciales y temporales de la ciudad

«It did restore a community to my life, which had been absent for a decade and a half. This has been a huge plus, in my experience. While I did not experience anything like the epiphanies that many other friends have, I was reminded that there are others out there who don’t fit well into the constraints that mainstream society dictates.» — Según Gilmore, un encuestado sin epifanías dice que el festival le devolvió una comunidad ausente por década y media y le recordó que hay otros que no caben en las restricciones de la sociedad dominante

«It’s transformed my relationships, my friendships, my view of myself, my view of the world. It’s opened up myriad possibilities and inspired new activities. It’s the opportunity to create a community from scratch, one based on a more altruistic system than capitalism.» — Según Gilmore, otros encuestados resumen el cambio: relaciones, amistades y visión de sí y del mundo transformadas, y la ocasión de crear desde cero una comunidad sobre un sistema más altruista que el capitalismo

«I realized that the kind of people who were at Burning Man were the kind of people I wanted to be like. I saw myself in them, and they recognized themselves in me. They accepted me, after I accepted myself.» — Según Gilmore, un participante resume el reconocimiento: halló en el festival la clase de gente que quería ser, y fue aceptado después de aceptarse a sí mismo

«It can be seen that for this individual, it was not just a multiply understood sense of community but rather an encounter between self and community (or self and others) that had changed him.» — Lee ese testimonio: lo que cambió a ese participante no fue la comunidad sola, sino el encuentro entre el yo y la comunidad

«Like any major change in life, and especially in forming one’s identity, transformation is not a simple operation.» — Acota la idea de transformación: como todo cambio mayor, y sobre todo al formarse la identidad, no es una operación simple

«Burning Man gave me the tools necessary to become the creative person I am and to realize that my own radical self-expression is a key component to the person I actually am.» — Según Gilmore, un participante atribuye al festival las herramientas para volverse la persona creativa que es y para ver su autoexpresión radical como componente clave de quién es

«Burning Man’s credo of radical self-reliance is something that, as a lifelong codependent, has challenged me in many ways and will hopefully make me a better, stronger person in the long run.» — Según Gilmore, una participante que se declara codependiente de toda la vida dice que el credo de autosuficiencia radical la ha desafiado y espera que la haga más fuerte

«It wasn’t about conformity or not making waves, it was about radical self-expression. My first few years taught me to be more accepting of myself and to fly my freak flag high and proud. It also taught me that, as far as making decisions, I can play safe or take risks. And that although taking risks and pushing my boundaries a bit was more frightening and challenging, it also brought greater rewards and wonderful experiences I may not have otherwise had.» — Según Gilmore, otro participante opone la conformidad a la autoexpresión radical, y consigna que arriesgarse trajo recompensas mayores

«Burning Man provided a working example of what I always suspected—that people are happiest when they can express themselves freely and enjoy the expression of others in a nurturing nonjudgmental environment.» — Según Gilmore, un participante ve en el festival un ejemplo funcionando de lo que sospechaba: que la gente es más feliz cuando puede expresarse libremente en un ambiente nutricio y sin juicio

«Before Burning Man, I saw society as something that an individual lives in. After Burning Man, I see society as something more personal—that I am a working part of it—and that I am a small cog in a working machine.» — Según Gilmore, un participante contrasta su visión de la sociedad antes y después: de algo en lo que uno vive a algo de lo que uno es parte funcionante

«The ideals of radical inclusiveness and gifting have had a huge impact on how I live my life. I’ve become very aware of litter and trash. I’ve become more politically active, because I’ve learned that people are people, and life is not a spectator sport. I am less intimidated by “politicians,” or performers, or actors, or whatever.» — Según Gilmore, otro atribuye a los ideales de inclusión radical y de regalo un efecto concreto: sentirse menos intimidado ante políticos, artistas o actores

«Their message echoed the same basic themes that the Greeters employ: “You’re entering into a strange new culture where you’ll need to participate, express yourselves, give gifts, and leave no trace.”» — Consigna cómo se traslada el ethos fuera del desierto: el mensaje que los Real World Greeters repitieron es el mismo de los Greeters —participar, expresarse, dar regalos y no dejar rastro

«In the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster—which happened to coincide with Burning Man that year—groups of Burners traveled to the Gulf Coast immediately after the event and set up an ad hoc relief effort that came to be known as Burners without Borders.» — Fecha en 2005 el ejemplo más notorio de ese traslado: tras el huracán Katrina, grupos de Burners fueron a la costa del Golfo y montaron un auxilio improvisado llamado Burners without Borders

«Setting up tents and shelters still dusty from the playa, more than two hundred volunteers over the course of eight months distributed food, water, and other critical supplies; demolished damaged buildings and hauled away debris; and rebuilt a Vietnamese Buddhist temple in Biloxi, Mississippi, and a home in Pearlington, Mississippi.» — Da la cuenta de ese esfuerzo: más de doscientos voluntarios en ocho meses repartieron comida y agua, demolieron edificios dañados y reconstruyeron un templo budista vietnamita en Biloxi y una casa en Pearlington

«Other examples are the efforts of Burners located in New York City who banded together after the attacks of September 11, 2001, to assist and support rescue and cleanup crews by donating burn barrels (i.e., recycled oil drums decorated with cut patterns that are commonly used on the playa to contain fires along the Esplanade and in theme camps) to cold and grateful city workers.» — Consigna otro caso: tras los ataques del 11 de septiembre de 2001, Burners de Nueva York donaron a las cuadrillas de rescate los barriles de fuego que se usan en la playa

«Although the various principles that constitute Burning Man’s ethos were the predominant themes in respondents’ reflections on transformation through the event, other themes emerged as well.» — Acota el peso de los principios en las respuestas: predominaron, pero no fueron los únicos temas de la transformación

«Burning Man for me has become a spiritual pilgrimage every year. It has renewed my faith in what humans can achieve, in terms of community.”» — Según Gilmore, un encuestado llama peregrinación espiritual anual al festival y dice que le ha renovado la fe en lo que los humanos pueden lograr en cuanto a comunidad

«Another said, “Burning Man was one of many nonreligious but spiritual activities that I have been cultivating since leaving my formal religion [Latter-day Saints] one and a half years ago.» — Según Gilmore, otro encuestado nombra el festival entre las actividades espirituales no religiosas que cultiva desde que dejó su religión formal, los Santos de los Últimos Días

«I now look at art differently. For me, art used to be something that hung on a wall, and though it should be thought-provoking, there was very little interaction in it.» — Según Gilmore, un participante dice que ahora mira el arte de otro modo: antes era algo colgado en un muro, que debía dar que pensar pero con muy poca interacción

«For example, one individual stated, “It afforded me the opportunity to ritualize a great deal of grief I had due to loss of friends from HIV.» — Según Gilmore, un participante consigna un uso terapéutico del rito: le dio ocasión de ritualizar el duelo por los amigos perdidos por el VIH

«In preparing for my first Burn, I was, without really thinking about it, going through all my belongings, large and small, discarding a lot of “crap” that I didn’t need or that didn’t resonate with me anymore.» — Según Gilmore, otro describe una depuración previa a su primera quema: revisar sus pertenencias y descartar lo que ya no le resonaba

«The shared encounters with extreme heat, cold, wind, and dust can serve as visceral reminders of the fragility of the human body.» — Señala qué hace el medio físico: el calor, el frío, el viento y el polvo compartidos recuerdan de modo visceral la fragilidad del cuerpo

«Although participants located the sources of their transformation in many different experiences, they collectively referenced themes that resonated with Burning Man’s ethos.» — Recapitula: aunque las fuentes de la transformación fueron muy distintas, los temas que se nombraron resonaban colectivamente con el ethos del festival

«In fulfillment of the event’s “leave no trace” imperative, the city must be completely removed within about a month of the festival’s close and re-created from scratch the following year.» — Consigna la consecuencia material del mandato: la ciudad ha de retirarse por completo en un mes y rehacerse desde cero al año siguiente

«Without a doubt, Burning Man resonates in some obvious ways with the Turners’ perspectives.» — Admite primero la coincidencia con la perspectiva de Victor y Edith Turner, antes de objetarla

«In leaving behind the default world of their daily lives—and framing their sense of separation with such language— Burners experience a release from mundane structures. This sense of release and dislocation extends to the temporal, as many individuals seek to immerse themselves in the moment and lose track of ordinary time, a collective experience that has come to be called being on playa time. They also move spatially from center to periphery—from the urban environments that most of them call home to the wilderness of the remote and inhospitable Nevada desert.» — Detalla en qué coincide: los Burners dejan el mundo por defecto —y enmarcan con ese lenguaje su separación— y se mueven del centro urbano a la periferia del desierto de Nevada

«Yet, on further consideration, I also began to recognize numerous ways in which Burning Man problematizes the qualities that the Turners held to be definitive of pilgrimages.» — Enuncia la objeción del capítulo: el festival problematiza en muchos puntos las cualidades que los Turner tenían por definitorias de la peregrinación

«In these regards, the separation from the mundane, ordinary, or default world is not as total or extreme as the Turners’ model intended.» — Precisa dónde falla el modelo: la separación del mundo ordinario no es tan total ni tan extrema como los Turner suponían

«However, these aspects of “ordeal” are mitigated by modern amenities: automobiles, ice chests, and relatively easy access to water chief among them.» — Acota la prueba física: la comodidad moderna la atenúa —automóviles, hieleras y agua a la mano

«For Burners, the trip to the playa is a choice, a vacation even, and technological advances have made surviving, even thriving, in this inhospitable place quite manageable.» — Recuerda la diferencia con la peregrinación clásica: el viaje a la playa es una elección, hasta unas vacaciones, y la técnica ha vuelto llevadero sobrevivir allí

«Indeed, part of the fun of camping on the playa may be to attempt to live as decadently and elegantly as possible in the face of the physical challenges, and while the heat, dust, wind, and occasional rainstorms may be difficult to endure, they can also be thrilling; all these are reminders that we too are subjects of nature.» — Consigna el reverso del rigor: parte de la gracia de acampar en la playa está en vivir con la mayor decadencia y elegancia posibles frente a los desafíos físicos, que a la vez recuerdan que también somos sujetos de la naturaleza

«To a certain extent Burning Man invites the homogenization of status, although in this context participants’ shared condition is more typically marked by flamboyant or eccentric dress and behavior» — Acota la homogeneización de estatus que Turner esperaba del estado liminal: aquí la condición compartida se marca más bien por el vestir y el comportamiento extravagantes o excéntricos

«But this apparent parallel between Burners’ collective sense of community and Turner’s communitas must be treated with caution.» — Advierte que el paralelo entre el sentido colectivo de comunidad de los Burners y la *communitas* de Turner ha de tratarse con cautela

«Not only is Burning Man a heterodox community; there is an extent to which participants inevitably replicate society’s class structures and other differences by what they bring with them to the desert, thus undermining the ideal of communitas.» — Da la razón de esa cautela: los participantes reproducen inevitablemente las estructuras de clase y otras diferencias por lo que llevan consigo al desierto, con lo que el ideal de *communitas* queda socavado

«The expense of the event also renders the festival mostly inaccessible to those without» — Añade el filtro económico: el costo vuelve el festival casi inaccesible para quien no tenga con qué; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase sigue en la 127 con *sufficient means, and the event is by and large—although by no means universally—attended by whites*

«Although there are, of course, ample exceptions to these generalizations, it has still most commonly been men who have made the big pyrotechnic art, and it has also more often been men who have built shade structures and pounded rebar stakes into the ground.» — Consigna un reparto de tareas por género que el evento no anula: han sido sobre todo hombres quienes hacen el gran arte pirotécnico y quienes levantan las estructuras de sombra

«Stereotypical gender-based divisions of labor are also sometimes reproduced.» — Enuncia el punto: también se reproducen divisiones del trabajo estereotipadas por género; la línea es corta y se cita entera

«Yet even those who have experienced profound life and perspective adjustments as novices at Burning Man often outgrow what was once a deeply radicalizing experience.» — Consigna el desgaste de la experiencia: aun quienes vivieron ajustes hondos de vida y de perspectiva como novatos acaban por dejar atrás lo que antes fue radicalizador

«For example, one participant said she decided to stop attending Burning Man because it had become “too big.” “The event interferes with my appreciation for the desert environment, it’s losing its impact on my psyche, and it’s time to seek new perspective adjustment tools,” she continued.37 Another participant told me that he feels there are now “too many people [and] too much spectacle for the sake of spectacle.» — Según Gilmore, una participante dejó de asistir porque el evento se volvió demasiado grande, y otro se queja de demasiada gente y demasiado espectáculo por el espectáculo

«Freedom has been replaced by stifling bureaucracy, limited movement and tired formula to create what amounts to a rather controlled desert car-camping experience.» — Según Gilmore, un participante formula la crítica más dura: la libertad reemplazada por burocracia asfixiante, movimiento limitado y fórmula gastada, hasta dar una acampada de auto en el desierto bastante controlada

«It has been said that pilgrimage may be better understood as a realm of competing discourses—both secular and religious.» — Recoge la propuesta de entender la peregrinación como ámbito de discursos en competencia, seculares y religiosos a la vez

«While events such as Burning Man may temporarily dissolve normative or default societal structures and open up liminoid zones of freedom and autonomy—as Turner theorized—they also reproduce and ultimately support many dominant ideologies.» — Acota el alcance político del festival: puede disolver por un tiempo las estructuras normativas y abrir zonas liminoides de libertad, como teorizó Turner, y a la vez reproduce y sostiene muchas ideologías dominantes

«Furthermore, despite the extent to which experiences of radical life or perspective change are commonly reported by Burners, it is important to acknowledge that approximately 10 percent of survey respondents did not feel that the event had changed their lives in any way,» — Da la cifra de los que no reportan cambio: cerca del 10 por ciento de los encuestados sintió que el evento no le había cambiado la vida en nada

«Thus while Burning Man is construed on the one hand as “whatever you want it to be,” this is perhaps best understood as a framework for personal interpretation.» — Reinterpreta la fórmula de que el evento sea lo que uno quiera: entendida mejor como marco de interpretación personal

«As clearly evinced by the criticism lobbed by many participants, there is an idea of what the event should be, and this process too is a dialectic.» — Añade que la crítica de los participantes señala que sí hay una idea de lo que el evento debe ser, y que ese proceso también es dialéctico

«For their part, organizers are wary of the potential legal or other consequences entailed by being too closely associated with the electronic music scene, and experience has shown them that those who attend only to party, in whatever capacity, may be less likely to uphold the ethos of Burning Man.» — Consigna el recelo de los organizadores hacia la escena de música electrónica y su experiencia de que quienes van solo a la fiesta sostienen menos el ethos del evento

«In this regard, organizers publicly downplay and recast these elements by, for example, referring to dance camps as “large-scale sound art” and by requesting that publications geared to the international electronic dance-music subcultures refrain from listing Burning Man in their event calendars.» — Detalla cómo lo administran: llaman a los campamentos de baile arte sonoro a gran escala y piden a las publicaciones de la subcultura electrónica que no listen el festival en sus calendarios

«Those who perform at the event have been told that it must be as their gift to the community and must not be actively publicized and certainly not charged for.» — Consigna la condición impuesta a quienes tocan en el evento: que sea su regalo a la comunidad, sin publicidad activa y desde luego sin cobro

«Harvey has called Burning Man “Disneyland in reverse.”» — Cita la fórmula con que Harvey define el evento por oposición al parque temático: un Disneylandia al revés; la línea es corta y se cita entera

«For many participants, Burning Man may be the primary annual holiday, and in a society in which many workers are allotted only two weeks of vacation per year it is perhaps remarkable that so many Burners choose to spend one of these weeks at Burning Man, which can be physically demanding “hard work.”» — Mide el lugar que el evento ocupa en la vida de sus asistentes: en un país donde muchos tienen dos semanas de vacaciones al año, dedican una a un trabajo físicamente exigente

«Yet they prefer this noncommodified—and hence nontouristic—experience over a more conventional and perhaps more relaxing vacation elsewhere.» — Enuncia la preferencia que eso revela: una experiencia no mercantilizada y por tanto no turística antes que unas vacaciones más convencionales y descansadas

«Through the symbolic hybridity of the event’s art, theme camps, and rituals, Burners often perform romanticized conceptions of “primitive” or “exotic” others while also often parodying elements of American default culture as inauthentic or inferior.» — Describe la operación doble de la hibridez simbólica: representar concepciones romantizadas de lo *primitivo* o lo *exótico* y parodiar a la vez la cultura estadounidense por defecto como inauténtica o inferior

«Hybridity was also apparent in a 2003 art installation called the Carousel Numinous, which consisted of three carousels, each featuring a series of wooden panels painted with mutated mythological creatures: a naked Christlike sacrificial figure with a lamb’s head, surrounded by corn plants with Native American motifs; a Buddha figure seated before a flaming labyrinth with wings on his head and a Kabbalistic “tree of life” formation on his chest; and a gray-green alien figure standing on top of a ouija board, with a Masonic pyramid in one hand and the other holding the hand of chimpanzee, with flying saucers and strands of DNA in the background.» — Describe el Carousel Numinous de 2003 como caso de esa hibridez: una figura crística con cabeza de cordero entre plantas de maíz con motivos nativoamericanos, un buda alado ante un laberinto en llamas con un árbol de la vida cabalístico en el pecho, y un alienígena sobre una tabla ouija con una pirámide masónica

«Another artwork from 2003 that commented on the emptiness of the default world was a piece called Burning GreyMen, consisting of several rigid, lemminglike lines of small gray papier-mâché men—all with receding hairlines and dressed in drab business suits—facing a central altar on which rested a hearth. Participants were invited to inscribe a burden, limitation, or conformity on a small piece of paper and affix it to one of the GreyMen before they met their fiery demise.» — Describe los Burning GreyMen de 2003: hileras de hombrecitos grises de papel maché con entradas y traje de oficina ante un altar, donde cada participante podía fijarles escrito un lastre, un límite o una conformidad

«A final example that occasionally showed up on the playa beginning in 2002 was a giant inflated Ronald McDonald figure that had been liberated from its fastfood chain and painted to resemble a golden seated “McBuddha.” By comically merging an idealized Eastern aesthetic with an utterly banal American icon, this piece cleverly reversed a ubiquitous corporate brand in the guise of the quintessentially un-materialistic Buddha» — Describe el McBuddha: un Ronald McDonald inflable liberado de su cadena y pintado como buda dorado sentado, con lo que una marca corporativa ubicua queda invertida en la figura del buda no materialista (donde la cita imprime *fastfood*, el crudo parte *fast-food* con guion de fin de renglón y la extracción por programa lo unió)

«At Burning Man the ordinary modernity of the default world is associated with the fake, while the exotic, primitive, or natural remains idealized as more truly real.» — Fija el reparto de valores que rige en el festival: la modernidad ordinaria queda asociada a lo falso y lo exótico, primitivo o natural se idealiza como lo más realmente real

«Burning Man explicitly offers itself up as an alternative to the normative, the commodified, and the institutionally religious, and what» — Enuncia lo que el festival se propone ser: alternativa a lo normativo, lo mercantilizado y lo institucionalmente religioso; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«But in this context, the other is not simply a fetishized marker of what you are not but a reflexive authentic self that you desire to become.» — Precisa qué es el otro en este contexto: no un marcador fetichizado de lo que uno no es, sino un yo auténtico y reflexivo que se desea llegar a ser

«Paradoxically, while this hybridity creates a context considered by most participants as more authentic, the very appropriation and reproduction of these symbols and narratives renders them, on a fundamental level, inauthentic, thus destabilizing fixed or rigid distinctions between these concepts.» — Enuncia la paradoja: la hibridez crea un contexto que casi todos tienen por más auténtico, y la apropiación y reproducción de esos símbolos los vuelve en el fondo inauténticos

«While categorically rejecting orthodoxy, participants and organizers collectively promote an orthropraxis of sorts by way of a clearly delineated ideology that encompasses personal, social, and environmental responsibility, alongside individual freedom.» — Nombra lo que se sostiene tras el rechazo de la ortodoxia: una especie de ortopraxis, con una ideología delineada de responsabilidad personal, social y ambiental junto a la libertad individual (la fuente imprime *orthropraxis*)

«Even where adherence to these ideals is lacking, participants’ critiques illustrate the varying degrees to which these ideals are both embraced and contested, a process stemming in part from the desire for authenticity and resistance to hierarchical authority.» — Lee las críticas como medida de esa ideología: muestran en qué grados esos ideales se abrazan y se disputan, por deseo de autenticidad y por resistencia a la autoridad jerárquica

«The desert also evokes a potent imagery of mystery, abstraction, and limitlessness, as well as time-honored connotations of hardship and sacrifice, creating the context for esoteric experiences in a quasi-mythical setting.» — Nombra lo que el desierto aporta: imaginería de misterio, abstracción e ilimitación y las connotaciones antiguas de penuria y sacrificio, que crean el contexto de experiencias esotéricas en un escenario casi mítico

«These dynamic encounters between self and other—in tandem with embodied experiences of the desert—coalesce to generate critical transformations for many participants, leading some to ascribe spiritual significance to the event.» — Cierra el capítulo cuarto: esos encuentros entre el yo y el otro, junto a la experiencia encarnada del desierto, generan transformaciones críticas y llevan a algunos a atribuir significación espiritual al evento

«In considering some of the complexities, ambiguities, and tensions between Burning Man’s performance as a “sacred” pilgrimage and its “profane” touristic elements, the event’s simultaneous reflection of and resistance to the quotidian forces of commodification and modernity becomes apparent.» — Resume la tensión que el capítulo recorrió: entre la representación del festival como peregrinación *sagrada* y sus elementos turísticos *profanos* se hace visible cómo refleja y a la vez resiste la mercantilización y la modernidad

«Having participated in this alternative, albeit temporary, social model and having witnessed the mutability of cultural norms, values, and symbols through this experience, some participants are moved to continue to enact Burning Man’s ideals in the default world.» — Enuncia el mecanismo del traslado: haber participado en ese modelo social alternativo y temporal y haber visto la mutabilidad de las normas mueve a algunos a seguir ejecutando los ideales del festival fuera de él

«media portrayals of Burning Man have not only helped to determine who has heard of the event and who decides to attend and why; they have also shaped both public understandings and private experiences of the event.» — Enuncia la tesis del capítulo quinto: las representaciones mediáticas no solo decidieron quién se entera y quién asiste, sino que moldearon los entendimientos públicos y las experiencias privadas del evento

«Members of the media are encouraged to view themselves as self-reliant and self-expressive participants rather than as detached spectators.» — Consigna la política de la organización hacia la prensa: se alienta a los periodistas a verse como participantes autosuficientes y autoexpresivos, no como espectadores distantes

«This is not necessarily the result of bad journalism; rather, this reflects the most familiar cultural categories.» — Acota la explicación de los tropos mediáticos: no es mal periodismo, sino el reflejo de las categorías culturales más familiares

«Rather, the media should be conceived as reflexive mechanisms that shape cultural consciousness and that in turn are shaped by culture.» — Propone concebir los medios como mecanismos reflexivos que moldean la consciencia cultural y a su vez son moldeados por la cultura

«Finally, it should not escape readers’ attention that this book and the accompanying DVD are themselves mediated productions.» — Aplica el argumento a su propio libro: el volumen y el DVD que lo acompaña son también producciones mediadas

«However, experience shows that even while any given depiction of this event will certainly reveal some of its basic spirit, it will nevertheless completely miss other angles and perspectives.» — Acota el alcance de toda representación del evento: revelará algo de su espíritu básico y perderá por completo otros ángulos

«Both intentionally and accidentally, Burners draw on innumerable “technological,” “pagan,” and other cultural sources to create, negotiate, and mediate their experiences of the event, which are in turn reflexively and indelibly represented by the mass media.» — Aplica esa observación al festival: los Burners echan mano, a propósito y por accidente, de fuentes *tecnológicas*, *paganas* y otras, que los medios representan a su vez

«From 1993 to 1996, a period of critical growth for the event, this task was led by a prominent Cacophony Society member, Stuart Mangrum, who also edited and managed operations for the organization’s publication, the Black Rock Gazette.» — Nombra a quien llevó la prensa en los años de crecimiento crítico: Stuart Mangrum, miembro prominente de la Cacophony Society, que además editaba el Black Rock Gazette

«Mangrum retreated from managerial responsibilities after the troubles of 1996, at which point Marian Goodell stepped in to oversee Burning Man’s communications needs, a position she still held in 2010.» — Fecha el relevo: tras los problemas de 1996 Marian Goodell asumió las comunicaciones del festival, cargo que seguía ocupando en 2010

«Because the ways in which the event is portrayed often have concrete ramifications for the ways in which the event is perceived by participants, potential participants, and others, Burning Man organizers have become savvy in their relations with the media, as well as increasingly selective—as far as is both possible and prudent—of the media groups that are allowed to cover the event.» — Explica por qué la organización se volvió selectiva con los medios: el modo de retratar el evento tiene consecuencias concretas sobre cómo lo perciben participantes y posibles participantes

«Their intention is to minimize the intrusion of cameras, as well as to protect both participants and the event in general from commercial exploitation, in keeping with Burning Man’s cultural ethos.» — Da el propósito declarado de esa política: reducir la intrusión de las cámaras y proteger a participantes y evento de la explotación comercial

«In order to enforce these policies, all participants—whether professional or private—who intend to capture any moving images must sign a use agreement form.» — Consigna la regla que alcanza a todos: quien pretenda capturar imágenes en movimiento, profesional o particular, firma un acuerdo de uso

«However, all commercial and professional media outlets are required to preregister via a Web-based form that collects information about the kinds of stories and uses planned and to check in with the Media Team in person once they have arrived at Black Rock City.» — Detalla el trámite para los medios comerciales: preinscripción con un formulario sobre las historias y usos previstos y presentación ante el Media Team al llegar

«Contractual requirements vary depending on the outlet but generally prohibit showing participants nude or using drugs in order to protect individuals’ privacy, delimit the venue(s) in which the finished product is intended to be shown in order to prevent the footage from being sold to undesirable or unauthorized outlets, request that appropriate credit be given to the artists whose work may be shown, and stipulate that some portion of any proceeds be shared with the Burning Man organization.» — Enumera las cláusulas del contrato: prohibición de mostrar desnudos o consumo de drogas, delimitación de los medios de exhibición, crédito a los artistas y reparto de una porción de los ingresos con la organización

«However, select entertainment-oriented media organizations are not welcome, chief among these being MTV, as the organizers do not want the event to be portrayed or perceived as either a “spring break-like” or “Ibiza-esque” party.» — Nombra al medio excluido y por qué: MTV no es bienvenida porque los organizadores no quieren que el evento se retrate como fiesta de vacaciones de primavera o a la manera de Ibiza

«The phenomenon of documentary filmmaking has been nurtured in part by the increasing affordability of high-quality digital video cameras, and it is this segment of the media that receives the most stringent scrutiny and is subject to the most restrictions by the Burning Man organization.» — Señala al documental como el segmento más restringido por la organización, alentado a su vez por el abaratamiento de las cámaras digitales

«Others complain that any media presence at Burning Man is tantamount to commercialization, as most media outlets rely on generating advertising revenues in order to sustain their operations and hence are seen by some Burners as profiting from this ideally decommodified event.» — Recoge la objeción de los participantes: toda presencia mediática equivale a comercialización, porque los medios viven de la publicidad y así lucran con un evento que se quiere descomodificado

«The Burning Man organization successfully took Voyeur Video to court in 2002 to halt the sale of the videos.» — Consigna el litigio contra Voyeur Video en 2002 para detener la venta de sus videos

«In fact, these numbers reflected the total number of daily medical incidents, the majority of which involved dehydration and miscellaneous cuts and scrapes and were not drug-related.» — Enmienda la cifra que el reportaje de la Associated Press dio por consumo de drogas: eran el total de incidentes médicos diarios, la mayoría deshidratación y raspones

«Misrepresentation of the facts notwithstanding, the AP article was picked up by numerous outlets across the United States and had a direct and damaging effect on the event.» — Mide el efecto de esa tergiversación: el despacho de la Associated Press lo reprodujeron numerosos medios y dañó directamente al evento

«The local authorities—who felt they could not afford to look “soft on drugs” in the eyes of their constituents —dramatically increased police presence at the event the next year, which not only resulted in more arrests but also contributed to a restless and potentially dangerous atmosphere brought on by participants’ feelings that they were under siege.» — Detalla la consecuencia: las autoridades locales, que no podían parecer blandas con las drogas, aumentaron la presencia policial al año siguiente, con más arrestos y un ambiente inquieto

«Whereas in the past press coverage might have portrayed such an accident in terms of irresponsibility or some inherent danger, the coverage instead stressed the entirely accidental nature of the tragedy, emphasizing that “event organizers work closely with local and federal safety officials to prevent accidents.”» — Contrasta con la cobertura de un accidente posterior, que subrayó su carácter enteramente accidental y el trabajo de los organizadores con las autoridades de seguridad

«While organizers have learned to become allies with the media, many participants continue to resist the media, perceiving it as fundamentally tied to corporate culture and as (potentially) responsible for reducing Burning Man to a commodified spectacle.» — Consigna la divergencia entre organización y participantes: los primeros aprendieron a aliarse con los medios y muchos de los segundos los siguen resistiendo como atados a la cultura corporativa

«However, another tradition begun that year, which continued as of 2009, was the distribution of a “press pass” with the tag line, “This pass entitles you to absolutely nothing. Immerse yourself!”» — Transcribe el lema impreso en el pase de prensa del festival, que no da derecho a nada y ordena sumergirse

«One response to these observations and conflicts was the development of what was hailed as the “new journalism,” characterized by narratives constructed from episodic scenes and a more subjective personal voice.» — Sitúa el *new journalism* como respuesta a esas tensiones: relatos armados con escenas episódicas y una voz personal más subjetiva

«As organizers hoped, some of the most thought-provoking and successful media coverage of the event does indeed come from those reporters who reflexively immerse themselves in the festival, who allow themselves to “go native” rather than remain at an artificial and self» — Consigna que la mejor cobertura vino de reporteros que se sumergieron reflexivamente y se dejaron *volver nativos*; la cita se corta en el guion de fin de renglón y la frase remata *imposed distance*

«Although members of the media have often been seen as outsiders at the event, some of the earliest coverage was actually generated by “native” Burners who were professional journalists in the default world and who were motivated to share what they understood as a remarkable story with their readers.» — Objeta la imagen de los medios como forasteros: parte de la cobertura más temprana la hicieron Burners *nativos* que eran periodistas profesionales en el mundo por defecto

«In these regards, the boundaries between participants and observers (or insiders and outsiders) at Burning Man have always been occasionally vague and arbitrary, and in deliberately blurring these borders members of the media have been encouraged to reflexively explore the frontiers of self, other, and culture alongside other participants.» — Cierra el tramo: las fronteras entre participantes y observadores han sido vagas y arbitrarias, y al difuminarlas a propósito se invita a los medios a explorar de forma reflexiva el yo, el otro y la cultura

«Thus, even among some of the most well meaning reporters, who may even be dedicated Burners themselves or who have otherwise “gone native,” the trend has been to capitalize on the more provocative or titillating aspects of the event, in keeping with the truism that stories eliciting shock and fear will sell more newspapers and airtime.» — Nombra la tendencia que halla incluso entre reporteros bienintencionados y Burners: capitalizar lo provocativo, porque el asombro y el miedo venden

«This is not to say that sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll are not to be found at Burning Man but rather that the media’s sometimes too-singular focus on these aspects is the result of superficial impressions and not substantive examinations.» — Acota la objeción sin negar los hechos: no es que no haya sexo, drogas ni rock, sino que el foco a veces único de los medios sale de impresiones superficiales

«I have observed that though there are certainly some participants who delight in the “self-expressive” freedom to be fully or partially nude at the festival, it is by no means a majority, let alone universal, practice. While I have never attempted any systematic count, I would estimate that only approximately 10 percent or less of the population of Black Rock City is nude at any given moment.» — Contrapone su observación de campo al tropo de la desnudez: no es práctica mayoritaria ni universal, y estima en un diez por ciento o menos la población desnuda en un momento dado

«For example, in 1999 the Associated Press reported, “Organizers say they’ve gotten a bad rap in recent years from the media, which tends to focus on the nudity, pagan rituals, and hallucinogenic drugs that make the rounds.”» — Cita el despacho de la Associated Press de 1999 en que los organizadores se quejan del enfoque de los medios en la desnudez, los ritos paganos y las drogas alucinógenas

«Yet, of course, in attempting to turn the media’s attention away from the ever-reliable shock value of “nudity, pagan rituals, and hallucinogenic drugs,” this Burning Man spokesperson» — Señala la paradoja del desmentido: al intentar apartar a los medios de esos tópicos, el portavoz del festival dirige hacia ellos la atención del reportero; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase remata en la 149 con *drew the reporter’s attention right to it*

«This correspondence may be entirely unintentional, but it more likely reflects a degree of sardonic acceptance and self-satire that, in its way, comments on the dynamics of the media’s deployment of exoticizing tropes.» — Lee el eco entre la imagen del festival y el tropo mediático como aceptación sardónica y autosátira que comenta la dinámica de los medios

«It is fair to say that Burning Man is the influential tribal-techno-feral-pagandigital event, happening, rave or whatever in the world.» — Cita el rótulo con que un medio nombró el evento —tribal, tecno, feral, pagano y digital a la vez— como muestra de la dificultad de etiquetarlo (la fuente imprime *pagandigital*, palabra que el troceo dejó pegada en el corte de renglón)

«As these quotations demonstrate, the media’s proclivity to sensationalize Burning Man often pulls the event in two directions simultaneously— toward the primitive and the high-tech, the premodern and postmodern.» — Nombra la tensión de esa cobertura: jala el evento a la vez hacia lo primitivo y hacia la alta tecnología, hacia lo premoderno y lo posmoderno

«The Burning Man Festival celebrates technology as a potential tool for freedom, but it also reverts back to something primordial, prehistoric, proverbial.» — Cita la fórmula con que Harvey enuncia esa paradoja: el festival celebra la tecnología como herramienta posible de libertad y a la vez revierte a algo primordial, prehistórico, proverbial

«The above vignette in particular demonstrates not only the journalists’ struggle to classify the event by looking to one another’s explications but also Larry Harvey’s own awareness of the event’s paradoxical technopagan elements.» — Lee esa escena en dos planos: los periodistas buscando cómo clasificar el evento en las explicaciones de los otros, y Harvey sabiendo de los elementos tecnopaganos paradójicos de lo suyo

«It is about the pulling down of old belief systems and structures, and replacing them, if only temporarily, with a new autonomous zone.43 The heat, the dust, the lack of water and amenities—all form a crucible where great art is created, deep connections are made and people undergo genuine spiritual transformations.» — Cita la prosa periodística que el capítulo analiza: derribar los sistemas de creencia viejos para reemplazarlos, aunque sea por un tiempo, con una zona autónoma nueva, y el crisol de calor, polvo y falta de agua donde se dan transformaciones espirituales (el *43* dentro de la cita es la llamada de nota, que el troceo pega a la palabra anterior)

«who speculated, “This can be anything from a kind of playfulness, to narcissism, to a more serious spiritual quest… . It is what you make of it.» — Cita a un entrevistado de prensa que va del juego al narcisismo y a la busca espiritual seria: el evento es lo que cada quien haga de él

«Participants likewise continue to echo this narrative, such as one individual who was quoted in this article stating, “I find Burning Man is spirituality without the church, without all the religious practices… . It doesn’t come with any of the traditional strings attached.”» — Cita a un participante citado en ese artículo: el festival es espiritualidad sin la iglesia y sin las prácticas religiosas, sin ninguno de los lazos tradicionales

«Prefacing it for the media as “The Easy Way Out,” organizers declare that if “the task of understanding Burning Man seems insuperable or» — Consigna la burla con que la organización responde a los tópicos, un generador de frases ofrecido a la prensa como salida fácil; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase sigue en la 151

«The media repeatedly turn toward “paganism” as the religious “type” that appears to be most clearly reflected in Burning Man’s ritualism.» — Nombra el tipo religioso al que los medios recurren una y otra vez para el ritualismo del festival: el paganismo

«As we have seen, while Burning Man lacks any avowed theology and remains ideologically distanced from “religion,” it nevertheless displays a number of ritualistic elements and motifs that echo this underlying root paganism in the “basic, primal response” (to borrow Harvey’s own term) that the event can generate in participants’ experiences.» — Aplica esa categoría con reserva: el festival carece de teología declarada y se mantiene a distancia ideológica de la religión, y aun así muestra elementos rituales que hacen eco de ese paganismo raíz en la respuesta básica y primaria que Harvey nombra

«The media’s persistent use of exoticizing, othering, and distancing strategies may limit other ways to perceive and portray the event.» — Señala el costo de esas estrategias: exotizar, hacer del evento un otro y tomar distancia limita los demás modos de percibirlo y retratarlo

«Of course, not every media representation of Burning Man relies on these tropes, as evinced in the Gifting It or Beyond Black Rock documentaries or the ABC Nightline episode, among many others.» — Acota la generalización con los casos que no recurren a esos tropos: los documentales Gifting It y Beyond Black Rock y el episodio de Nightline de ABC

«the sciencefiction writer Bruce Sterling proclaimed Burning Man the “New American Holiday” for the “Digerati”» — Consigna el bautizo con que el escritor de ciencia ficción Bruce Sterling nombró al festival: la nueva fiesta estadounidense de los *digerati* (la fuente imprime *sciencefiction*, palabra que el troceo dejó pegada en el corte de renglón)

«In addition, several highprofile high-tech individuals are known to have attended during that period, including Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon.com, and Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, among others.» — Nombra a los asistentes de la industria tecnológica de ese periodo: Jeff Bezos, director de Amazon, y los fundadores de Google, Larry Page y Sergey Brin (la fuente imprime *highprofile*, palabra unida en el corte de renglón)

«The Well’s developer, Stewart Brand, had previously published the popular Whole Earth Catalogues that served as bibles for the countercultures of the late 1960s and early 1970s.» — Traza la genealogía del vínculo con la red: Stewart Brand, creador del Well, había publicado los Whole Earth Catalogues que fueron biblias de las contraculturas de los sesenta y setenta

«The Internet came to serve as an essential organizing, communications, and community-building tool for Burning Man organizers as well as the larger Burning Man community.» — Consigna qué fue internet para el festival: herramienta esencial de organización, comunicación y construcción de comunidad

«Thus, not only has Burning Man been portrayed as a playground for computer geeks, but Burners have turned to the Internet as a space in which to continue to “radically express” themselves, sharing their experiences of the event with the world through this medium and building community.» — Da vuelta al tópico del parque de juegos para *geeks*: los Burners tomaron internet como espacio para seguir expresándose radicalmente y construir comunidad

«These parallels should not be stretched too thinly here, but it is still worth recalling the large-scale emanations of communitas that Dayan and Katz argued were prone to manifest through broadcast media events and rituals.» — Acota el paralelo entre la playa y el ciberespacio, recordando las emanaciones de *communitas* que Dayan y Katz atribuían a los eventos y ritos de los medios

«While more decentralized and dispersed, it does seem that something like the bonding of communitas can occur in on-line communities as well.» — Extiende la *communitas* a lo digital: más descentralizada y dispersa, pero algo de ese vínculo parece darse también en las comunidades en línea

«In this vein, it is important to remember that it is not simply the case that the Internet is shaping culture but rather that it is culture that is shaping the Internet.» — Objeta el determinismo tecnológico: no es que internet moldee la cultura, sino que la cultura moldea internet

«appropriates, rehearses, and negotiates symbolic resources in order to patch together do-it-yourself spiritualities, identities, and communities that are participatory, hybrid, and heterodox.» — Enuncia qué hace el tecnopaganismo del festival, con el tramo que continúa la frase cortada en la plana anterior: apropiarse, ensayar y negociar recursos simbólicos para armar espiritualidades, identidades y comunidades participativas, híbridas y heterodoxas

«In this regard, “convergence culture” is a metaphor that not only describes emerging changes between the media and the public but also may be in tune with significant cultural shifts in the way that the American public is thinking about, discussing, practicing, and imagining religions and spiritualities, especially within spaces like Burning Man.» — Extiende la metáfora de la cultura de convergencia a la religión: describe también los desplazamientos en el modo en que el público estadounidense piensa, discute, practica e imagina religiones y espiritualidades

«This discussion of the intersections between Burning Man and the media would be incomplete without some reflection on my own participation in this regard.» — Declara que el capítulo quedaría incompleto sin reflexionar sobre su propia participación en los medios del festival

«Ultimately, however, we created a singular and somewhat independent narrative—closely dovetailed with the text while also capable of standing alone—and structured this primarily around an interview of myself conducted with Ron’s assistance.» — Declara cómo se armó el DVD: una narrativa propia, encajada con el texto y capaz de sostenerse sola, estructurada sobre una entrevista a la autora

«What little filming I undertook for this project convinced me that it is not my favorite role, an observation that itself entails considerable methodological consequences.» — Consigna una incomodidad de método convertida en dato: filmar no es su papel favorito, y eso mismo tiene consecuencias metodológicas

«One of the abiding principles of Burning Man is that participants do not interfere with the immediate experience of other participants.» — Recuerda el principio que rige la conducta y también la cámara: no interferir en la experiencia inmediata de los demás

«If any participant asks you to stop filming, you must stop immediately. If you continue to photograph or film, you face the possibility of being escorted from the event.» — Transcribe la regla que se impone a quien filma: detenerse de inmediato si alguien lo pide, so pena de ser escoltado fuera del evento

«Many professional photographers—like those we encountered at this Shabbat service—have learned that in order to capture the quality footage they require, they must not be shy about getting right up to the front line of whatever event they happen to be documenting. When shooting rites, this often means that they enter into the ritual space, such that they can become de facto actors in the rite itself.» — Describe el efecto de la cámara sobre el rito: los fotógrafos profesionales han aprendido a ponerse al frente, y al filmar ritos entran en el espacio ritual hasta volverse actores de hecho

«But because Ron, a former Media Team volunteer like me, was highly sensitized to minimize his interference in the immediate experience of the rite, his shooting style was much more reserved and polite.» — Contrapone la manera de filmar de su esposo, voluntario del Media Team, sensibilizado a no interferir en la experiencia inmediata del rito

«For her part, my mother’s editorial sensibilities told her that the footage of the Conexus Shabbat wasn’t particularly compelling, and she argued that we should leave this rite on the cutting room floor.» — Consigna el desacuerdo dentro del propio equipo del DVD: su madre, que editó el material, halló poco convincente el registro del Shabat de la Conexus y propuso descartarlo

«One irony is that—of the myriad performances and rituals we captured on tape—this most clearly “religious” rite comes across as not very exciting visually.» — Registra la ironía del material: de todas las performances filmadas, el rito más claramente *religioso* es el menos atractivo visualmente

«However, rather than erase that vulnerability from the text, I have chosen to foreground it as a problem for the reader.» — Declara su decisión de método: no borrar esa vulnerabilidad del texto sino ponerla al frente como problema para el lector

«In rendering a series of disparate moments into a coherent narrative framework and in placing these in the public realm, the contents of this DVD and this text serve to reify select perspectives and occurrences—underscoring and flattering my ideas about Burning Man—while minimizing or disregarding many others.» — Aplica esa lista a su propia obra: volver coherentes momentos dispares y ponerlos en el dominio público reifica perspectivas escogidas —y halaga sus propias ideas— mientras minimiza otras

«For their part, event organizers have invested a great deal of effort in building positive relationships with representatives of various forms of media in order to foster more sensitive portrayals of the event and thus protect it from the potentially destructive consequences of “bad press.”» — Consigna la inversión de los organizadores en relaciones con los medios, para obtener retratos más sensibles y protegerse de las consecuencias destructivas de la mala prensa

«It may seem incongruous that the Burning Man organization seeks to transgress many social norms while also not wanting to be publicly portrayed as “too” transgressive or as transgressive in the wrong ways.» — Nombra la incongruencia aparente: la organización busca transgredir normas sociales y a la vez no quiere que se la retrate como demasiado transgresora o transgresora de los modos equivocados

«Such tensions should not be surprising given that the event is a paradoxical attempt to institutionalize a temporary autonomous zone.» — Explica esa tensión por la forma misma del proyecto: un intento paradójico de institucionalizar una zona autónoma temporal

«Harvey consciously decided that he wanted as many people as possible to experience Burning Man—despite the logistical difficulties this imposed—and in this he recognized that the media were key to spreading the message.» — Atribuye a Harvey la decisión consciente de que asistiera cuanta más gente fuera posible, con los medios como llave para difundir el mensaje

«In these regards, a central strategy for ensuring more favorable coverage of the event has been to rely on Burning Man’s participatory ethos by encouraging journalists to reorient their gaze toward a more intersubjective stance, thereby generating a number of more personally and contextually located perspectives on the event.» — Nombra la estrategia central para una cobertura más favorable: apoyarse en el ethos participativo y mover la mirada del periodista a una postura más intersubjetiva

«The free-form and dynamic syncretism of Burning Man can readily be seen as a pastiche of the “primitive” or “premodern” that is unfolding in a distinctively “high-tech” or “postmodern” context.» — Resume el tropo mediático: el sincretismo libre y dinámico del festival se deja ver como pastiche de lo *primitivo* o *premoderno* desplegado en un contexto de alta tecnología

«For Burners, both the “techno” and the “pagan” may be viewed as more authentic options than the old or default media, ritual, and culture, thus resonating with and reflecting participants’ experiences and constructions of the festival. This process is in turn fed by the media, generating causal and reflexive loops between individuals and media, private and public, participants and spectators, self and other, normative and deviant.» — Cierra el circuito: para los Burners lo *tecno* y lo *pagano* son opciones más auténticas que los medios y la cultura por defecto, y eso alimenta bucles causales y reflexivos entre individuos y medios, participantes y espectadores

«Burners are certainly not passive consumers of media. They constantly debate, contest, and even mock the meanings of Burning Man, along with the implications of various mass media portrayals of the event and each others’ interpretations.» — Objeta la imagen del público pasivo: los Burners debaten, disputan y hasta se burlan de los significados del evento y de los retratos mediáticos

«In some cases, the art of Burning Man specifically comments on and parodies passive media culture, as could be seen in a 2003 installation, The Medium Is the Religion (fig. 8; see also DVD, chap. 4). Constituting a wry comment on the potential passivity and mindlessness of both mass media and mass religion, this piece was composed of three rows of church pews, each with a number» — Describe The Medium Is the Religion de 2003 como parodia de la pasividad de los medios y de la religión de masas; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase sigue en la 163 con *of television sets seated on them, all facing an imposing podium on which sat the largest television set*

«Through repetition and adroit manipulation of cultural symbols, the media, like ritual, can help to create perceptions of unity in the ways in which social events are experienced by providing pervasive and prescriptive—yet flexible and fluid—frameworks for understanding.» — Cierra el capítulo quinto emparejando medios y ritual: por repetición y manipulación diestra de los símbolos culturales, unos y otro crean percepciones de unidad al dar marcos de comprensión omnipresentes y prescriptivos y a la vez flexibles

«Burning Man is at once sacred, secular, and neither. Burners desire transformative, direct, and visceral encounters that are inherently diverse» — Abre el capítulo sexto con la fórmula que recoge el recorrido: el festival es a la vez sagrado, secular y ninguna de las dos cosas; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Neither Burning Man organizers nor participants consider the festival an enactment of “religion,” yet at the same time both groups are likely to invoke “spirituality” as something to be discovered and embraced through the event.» — Recapitula la posición del campo: ni organizadores ni participantes tienen el festival por representación de la religión, y unos y otros invocan la espiritualidad como algo que allí se descubre

«Burners often talk about spirituality as if it were distinguishable from religion, thus expressing their dissatisfaction with or distrust of traditional religious institutions by framing their own spiritual quests as conceptually distinct from what are viewed as default religious options.» — Lee esa distinción como expresión de desconfianza: al separar conceptualmente su busca espiritual de lo que tienen por opciones religiosas por defecto

«Rather than point to either “spirituality” or “religion” as essentially distinct categories or binary opposites, Burning Man, on closer examination, destabilizes these concepts, offering a window onto them as a dialectic.» — Formula la posición del libro: el festival desestabiliza esas categorías en vez de fijarlas como opuestos binarios, y deja verlas como dialéctica

«Religious institutions have historically been subject to innumerable critiques stemming from desires for authenticity and transformation, spawning new institutional (or anti-institutional) structures.» — Sitúa esa dinámica en el tiempo largo: las instituciones religiosas han recibido siempre críticas nacidas del deseo de autenticidad y transformación, que engendran estructuras nuevas, institucionales o antiinstitucionales

«Ultimately, what matters more to Burners than academic quibbles about what properly constitutes spirituality, religion, or authenticity are their own immediate and idiosyncratic experiences, their encounters with community, their cathartic and visceral rites, and the challenges met and overcome in the crucible of the desert.» — Devuelve el peso a la experiencia: a los Burners les importan más sus vivencias inmediatas, la comunidad, los ritos catárticos y los desafíos vencidos que las disputas académicas sobre qué es espiritualidad o religión

«Although sometimes the event’s ritual structures have failed to achieve these desired goals—and participants typically decry rites that leave them feeling like spectators—over the years, these rites have induced palpable encounters with collective unity and individual catharsis for many Burners.» — Acota el balance de los ritos: a veces fallaron y los participantes reprueban los que los dejan como espectadores, y con los años han producido encuentros palpables de unidad colectiva y catarsis

«Participants generate a wide variety of rituals and performances that evince this inherent heterodoxy but which also share in certain common transformational themes, such as creation, destruction, sacrifice, and redemption.» — Halla temas comunes bajo la heterodoxia de los ritos: creación, destrucción, sacrificio y redención

«Not only was Turner himself reflexively absorbing elements of popular culture, or countercultures, into his most provocative theorizing, his ideas have since found their way into Western cultural consciousness such that they have come to recursively influence events like Burning Man.» — Cierra el circuito con Turner: él absorbía elementos de la cultura popular en su teorizar, y sus ideas entraron después en la consciencia cultural hasta influir de vuelta en eventos como este

«In positioning Burning Man in ideological opposition to what is understood as the default worldview, Burners have evolved and embraced a set of core principles—including participation, self-expression, self-reliance, community, inclusiveness, gifting, and environmental responsibility—that many seek to actualize not only on the playa but also in the default world.» — Enumera los principios nucleares que los Burners abrazaron por oposición a la visión del mundo por defecto y que muchos buscan realizar fuera de la playa

«Although Burners typically eschew theological orthodoxies and fixed ideologies, this performative ethos engenders a sense of orthopraxy.» — Vuelve sobre la ortopraxis: se rehúyen las ortodoxias teológicas y las ideologías fijas, y el ethos performativo engendra un sentido de práctica correcta

«Yet while some journalists are concerned about the elusiveness of objectivity, by and large there remains an absence of self-reflexivity in mass media endeavors.» — Acota lo logrado en el trato con la prensa: algunos periodistas se preocupan por lo esquivo de la objetividad, y en general falta autorreflexividad en los medios masivos

«Although Reverend Billy did not emerge directly out of the Burning Man festival, he shares and has been influenced by its ethos, and the two have come to enjoy an important and fruitful relationship.» — Presenta la relación con Reverend Billy: no salió del festival, comparte su ethos y ha sido influido por él

«I didn’t expect to like his performance, let alone be moved and inspired by it, but given the subject matter of my dissertation research, I felt obligated to see what he was all about» — Declara su propia reserva inicial ante la performance de Reverend Billy, que fue a ver por obligación de su investigación doctoral

«I soon saw that although the style Billy had adopted was satirical and somewhat contrived, the message he preached was genuine and deeply felt.» — Consigna el cambio de su juicio: el estilo era satírico y algo forzado y el mensaje predicado le pareció genuino y hondamente sentido

«Billy calls upon “the God that is not a product” so as to “exorcise” cash registers, credit cards, and consumers and thereby forestall the coming “shopacalypse.”» — Describe la liturgia paródica de Reverend Billy: invoca al Dios que no es un producto para exorcizar cajas registradoras, tarjetas de crédito y consumidores

«Billy forcefully proclaimed, as though speaking to George W. Bush: You will not return to ground zero to be reelected.» — Cita la proclama con que Billy se dirigió a George W. Bush en el festival de 2003

«In recent years, however, the interactivity and access afforded by Internet-based media have enabled a wider public to increasingly insert its voice into the» — Consigna el contrapeso: la interactividad de los medios basados en internet ha permitido a un público más amplio meter su voz; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«I was also delighted by the absurd yet pointed lyrics to the tunes the choir belted out, such as “You’ve got to be surreal. You’ve got to be exorcised. You’ve got to be impossible, sometimes, to understand.”» — Transcribe la letra que el coro cantaba en el festival, con su orden de ser surreal, exorcizado e imposible de entender

«He told me that he had headed straight out to the Temple—located, as usual, a couple hundred feet directly behind the Man, which meant that he had been gazing out at it all week long from his vantage point onstage—to spend some personal contemplative time within that hallowed space.» — Según Gilmore, Reverend Billy le contó que tras su actuación se fue al Templo, que había mirado toda la semana desde el escenario, a pasar un rato de contemplación

«Because the word spiritual is bankrupt, because of religion, because the word religious is bankrupt, because of churches, we tend to not return to those words.» — Cita a Bill Talen sobre por qué evita el vocabulario: la palabra *spiritual* está quebrada por la religión y *religious* por las iglesias

«While he may be a master of the preacher’s genre, Bill Talen is not ordained, or trained in ministry or liturgies, but rather has a substantial professional background in the theater.» — Aclara la procedencia del personaje: Bill Talen no está ordenado ni formado en ministerio o liturgia, sino que viene del teatro

«The church’s performances are directed by Billy’s wife, Savitri Durkee. Most choir members and accompanying musicians joined the church by answering casting calls, and the Church of Stop Shopping is legally organized as a nonprofit theater company.» — Da la forma organizativa de la Church of Stop Shopping: dirigida por Savitri Durkee, con coristas y músicos llegados por convocatorias de casting, y constituida legalmente como compañía teatral sin fines de lucro

«some Christians of varying political and theological orientations that I have spoken with about Billy have expressed their dislike and distrust of his work, taking offense at his sarcastic appropriation of the preacher’s mantle and collar.» — Consigna la objeción cristiana: algunos de orientaciones políticas y teológicas diversas desaprueban su apropiación sarcástica del manto y el alzacuellos del predicador

«But as Reverend Billy’s public profile has grown, some Christians have come to celebrate the Church of Stop Shopping’s work and see its parallels to their own traditions.» — Consigna, sin armonizar, la recepción contraria: otros cristianos han llegado a celebrar el trabajo de la Church of Stop Shopping y a ver sus paralelos con sus propias tradiciones

«Billy considers his work “postreligious,” but his cheeky public persona and ritual performances transcend one-dimensional satire.» — Consigna la autodefinición de Billy —*posreligioso*— y añade que su persona pública y sus performances rituales rebasan la sátira de una sola dimensión

«By simultaneously exploiting and reinventing the evangelical revival motif, combined with the deep sincerity of their message, the Church of Stop Shopping deliberately blurs the lines between irony and spirituality, thereby destabilizing normative assumptions about the nature of religion, spirituality, ritual, and theater.» — Describe la operación del grupo: explotar y reinventar a la vez el motivo del avivamiento evangélico, con lo que se difuminan las líneas entre ironía y espiritualidad

«Clearly, the Church of Stop Shopping does not think Starbucks is an appropriate study hall, and in the implicit message that Reverend Billy is not a fake preacher, they challenged the stability of the categories “preacher” and “religion” and indeed the notion of “authenticity.”» — Lee la consigna paródica de que Starbucks sería una sala de estudio y Billy un predicador falso: el mensaje implícito disputa la estabilidad de las categorías *predicador* y *religión*, y la noción misma de autenticidad

«Through their exploitation of select Christian symbols and ritual modes and their core commitment to social justice and public activism, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping—like Burning Man— are part of larger cultural trends that displace and redefine collective notions of where religious and spiritual experience is located.» — Empareja a Reverend Billy y su iglesia con el festival: ambos son parte de tendencias culturales mayores que desplazan y redefinen dónde se sitúa la experiencia religiosa y espiritual

«Talen, who was raised in a Dutch Calvinist tradition, is at times suspicious of mainline religious institutions, even when their progressive politics may be aligned.» — Consigna la procedencia y el recelo de Talen: criado en la tradición calvinista neerlandesa, desconfía a veces de las instituciones religiosas establecidas aun cuando coincida con su política

«There are people who solve the problem of our waterlessness here who might be able to help the people who are flooded by Katrina there.» — Cita la propuesta de Reverend Billy en el festival de 2005: que quienes resuelven la falta de agua en la playa podrían ayudar a los inundados por Katrina

«He then surprised the gathered crowd by handing off his bullhorn to Joan Baez—who just happened to be in attendance at Burning Man that year.» — Narra el momento en que Billy pasó su megáfono a Joan Baez, que estaba entre el público ese año

«Reverend Billy’s performances at Burning Man have been criticized by some participants for some of the same reasons that Ozan’s operas were in their day—as being shows for spectators.» — Consigna la crítica que los participantes le hicieron, la misma que en su día a las óperas de Ozan: ser espectáculos para espectadores

«However, a distinctly interactive flavor can permeate the crowd during Reverend Billy’s performances, aided, I believe, by the gospel and evangelical ritual style in which the tradition of call and response fosters an inherent turn toward the participatory.» — Responde con lo que observó: el estilo ritual gospel y evangélico, con su llamada y respuesta, inclina la multitud hacia lo participativo

«On this point, I agree that for those not already sympathetic to his message, his street activism may come across as invasive and sanctimonious. But at the same time his work is intended to jolt the public out of its habitual materialism while also serving to energize and inspire those working to “take back” the default culture from the clutches of corporate consumerism, letting individuals and communities know that they are not alone in their alienation.» — Consigna la objeción que comparte y su límite: para quien no simpatice ya con el mensaje, el activismo callejero puede resultar invasivo y santurrón, y a la vez busca sacudir el materialismo habitual y avisar a los alienados de que no están solos

«Perhaps the sense of transformative magic I felt that night stemmed from what Talen called “the edge of the abyss, beyond which is silence,” and “the sense of lostness” that was necessary to bring about change.» — Cita la fórmula de Talen sobre el borde del abismo, más allá del cual está el silencio, y el sentido de estar perdido que hace falta para que haya cambio

«Reverend Billy’s self-conscious appropriation of the evangelical motif saps it of its traditional associations while usurping and realigning those symbols in service of a sincere spiritual critique.» — Describe la operación del motivo evangélico en Billy: le quita sus asociaciones tradicionales y realinea esos símbolos al servicio de una crítica espiritual sincera

«Yet another read on Reverend Billy’s gospel is that it is actually a profoundly Christian message, based as it is on the ideals of love, compassion, fellowship, and the importance of looking beyond material wealth as an ultimate value.» — Ofrece otra lectura del mismo mensaje, sin arbitrar: sería un mensaje hondamente cristiano, fundado en el amor, la compasión, la fraternidad y la relativización de la riqueza material

«In harnessing this ritual mode, Billy and the choir—like Burning Man—step into a place that resides on the border between the silly and the serious.» — Sitúa a Billy y su coro donde sitúa al propio festival: en la frontera entre lo bobo y lo serio

«In so doing, the Church of Stop Shopping (or, as it is now known, the Church of Life After Shopping) seeks to aid in decolonizing the public imagination by challenging expectations and assumptions about the nature and location of religious experience.» — Nombra el propósito que atribuye a la iglesia, hoy llamada Church of Life After Shopping: descolonizar la imaginación pública desafiando lo que se espera de la experiencia religiosa y de dónde ocurre

«When ritual tools are skillfully employed and the lines between audience and performer are artfully blurred, really good theater can—like a really good Burning Man experience—change the course of human lives and cultures.» — Enuncia lo que sostiene sobre el teatro ritual: con las herramientas rituales bien usadas y la línea entre público y actor bien difuminada, el buen teatro puede, como una buena experiencia del festival, cambiar el curso de vidas y culturas

«There are also conscious inversions and reinventions of traditional ritual frameworks—whether adopting a gospel, pagan, or any other motif from the intercultural stew pot of symbols and possibilities—but which continue to resonate with transformative power, even while the content of these ritual containers may be altered.» — Consigna que las inversiones conscientes de los marcos rituales —gospel, pagano o cualquier otro motivo del guiso intercultural de símbolos— siguen resonando con poder transformador aunque cambie el contenido

«When I interviewed Larry Harvey, he spoke of his hope that this event might actually change the world in tangible and pragmatic ways, and he asked me to at least consider that this might be possible.» — Cita la esperanza que Harvey le expresó en entrevista: que el evento cambie el mundo de modos tangibles y pragmáticos, y la petición de que al menos lo considere posible

«Although on a broad cultural scale it is too early to tell what the true long-term social influence, if any, of this event will be, it does seem clear that Burning Man has had a measure of social impact through its transformative effects on individuals and specific communities, as well as on occasion through its public outreach efforts.» — Acota el balance final: a escala cultural amplia es pronto para saber cuál sea la influencia social duradera, y sí hay impacto medible sobre individuos y comunidades concretas

«In the end, I would like to posit that there is, in fact, something unhealthy and inauthentic lying at the heart of what Burners describe as the default world, which is part of what drives many participants to seek satisfaction on the playa.» — Enuncia la posición que la autora declara como suya al cerrar: hay algo malsano e inauténtico en el corazón de lo que los Burners llaman el mundo por defecto, y eso empuja a muchos a buscar satisfacción en la playa

«Rather it is the quest for freedom, justice, and authenticity that is significant, and Burning Man has, in its own eclectic way, sought to participate in this grand human endeavor.» — Enmienda lo que tiene por significativo en el proyecto: no un estado estable, imposible por definición, sino la busca de libertad, justicia y autenticidad, en la que el festival participa a su manera ecléctica

«Through this festival participants have been able to ritualize and reinvigorate their lives in ways that are felt to counter the oppressive tendencies and discourses of our society, and through these performative engagements with Burning Man’s endless creative and symbolic diversity, participants seek to redefine and re-create their lives in both temporary and enduring ways.» — Enuncia lo que el festival permite hacer: ritualizar y revigorizar la propia vida de modos que se sienten contrarios a las tendencias opresivas de la sociedad

«It may well be that, for some, the transformative experiences rooted in Burning Man are superficial and as transitory as Black Rock City itself. But it is also the case that many Burners ultimately seek to bring their playa experiences back out into the rest of the world with them and increasingly strive to re-create the default world in the image of Burning Man by enacting these values in the social realms that touch their daily lives.» — Consigna las dos posibilidades sin arbitrar: que para algunos la transformación sea superficial y tan pasajera como la propia ciudad, y que muchos se lleven la experiencia de vuelta y busquen rehacer el mundo por defecto a su imagen

«For my part, I have been participating in both the Burning Man event and the communities that have grown up around it for well over a decade, and these varied experiences—ultimately including the years of effort that have gone into writing this book—have changed the course of my life and my self-image in more ways than I can begin to count. Similarly, by offering the gift of my labor through this book and DVD, perhaps my own perspectives may in some way touch the broader world.» — Cierra en primera persona: más de una década de participación y los años de escribir el libro le cambiaron el rumbo de la vida, y ofrece el libro y el DVD como regalo de su trabajo

«By providing a unique forum in which to negotiate a wide variety of themes and ideals, this festival renders the boundaries between the sacred and the secular—along with a host of other conceptual dichotomies—utterly ambiguous. Yet in explicitly inviting participants to project their own meanings and intentions onto the event’s ample ritual frameworks, Burning Man provides an exemplary and magical space to ritualize and be transformed.» — Cierra el volumen: el festival vuelve del todo ambiguas las fronteras entre lo sagrado y lo secular y, al invitar a proyectar significados propios sobre sus marcos rituales, ofrece un espacio ejemplar para ritualizar y transformarse

«I received a total of 315 responses, which represented approximately 1 percent of that year’s total attendance of 35,644.» — Da el tamaño de su muestra en el apéndice demográfico: 315 respuestas, cerca del uno por ciento de los 35 644 asistentes de ese año

«Given the inconsistencies from year to year, as well as the lack of other indicators, it is difficult to know how to interpret these findings, although it appears that most, but by no means all, Burners could be considered middle class. My informal observations also indicate that most participants are probably of middle-class backgrounds and means.» — Acota sus datos de ingreso: las inconsistencias entre años y la falta de otros indicadores dificultan la interpretación, y parece que la mayoría, aunque en modo alguno todos, serían de clase media

«As to the ethnicity of Burning Man participants, the organization did not include questions on this in any of the annual surveys considered here. However, it can be readily observed at the event that most attendees are of predominantly European ancestry (i.e., white), and this was confirmed by the respondents to my survey.» — Declara el hueco de los datos oficiales sobre etnicidad y lo que él observa: la mayoría de los asistentes es de ascendencia predominantemente europea, lo que sus encuestados repiten

«In 2001 the Burning Man organization also queried respondents as to whether or not they thought Burning Man had changed their lives and found that roughly 60 percent reported having a life-changing experience.» — Da la cifra de la encuesta de la propia organización en 2001: cerca del 60 por ciento reportó una experiencia que le cambió la vida

«Larry Harvey’s gloss on the general scarcity of color in the Burner populace is that many white people in the United States have a sense that something is lacking in their own cultural experiences and that Burning Man fulfills that desire. To put it another way, there is a sense in which the false homogenization and cultural normativity of “whiteness” has resulted in a perceived absence of cultural uniqueness or of shared cultural rituals for many European Americans.» — Consigna la explicación de Harvey para la escasez de gente de color en el público —la sensación de carencia cultural de muchos blancos estadounidenses— y la reformulación de la autora: la homogeneización falsa de la blancura deja percibir una ausencia de ritos culturales compartidos

«This may indeed account, at least in part, for the general ethnic demography of Black Rock City. Burning Man is attractive to those whose “culture” is the norm, or default, and who also in various ways find themselves in opposition to that norm and its perceived deficiencies. Furthermore, as can be witnessed in the event’s hybridity, it may also be that white Americans feel more implicit privilege moving into and appropriating realms of cultural difference.» — Deriva de ahí la demografía étnica del festival: atrae a quienes son la norma cultural y a la vez se hallan en oposición a ella, con el privilegio implícito de entrar y apropiarse de ámbitos de diferencia

«I had provided check boxes for Female, Male, FTM, MTF, and Other. Only one respondent checked MTF, one checked Other, and three declined to state.» — Consigna en nota metodológica las casillas de género que ofreció su encuesta y el resultado: una persona marcó MTF, una Other y tres declinaron declararlo

«Many of the field interviewees were approached because I already had reason to believe they would tell an interesting story or because they simply seemed approachable on a hot, dusty afternoon, so I do not include their demographic» — Declara un límite del muestreo de campo: abordó a los entrevistados porque creía que tendrían una historia interesante o porque parecían accesibles, y por eso no incluye sus datos demográficos; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la frase remata *characteristics in my summaries here*

«I’m seeking Burning Man participants to contribute to my ethnographic survey on spirituality and religion at the Burning Man festival. I hope to gather a wide variety of ideas on these subjects—from all perspectives. Why? Well, the parallels between Burning Man and “religion” have been noted by many folks over the years, but so far no one has undertaken a serious study of this association. I seek to fill that gap.» — Reproduce la carta de convocatoria de su encuesta, fechada el 20 de julio de 2004: los paralelos entre el festival y la religión los habían notado muchos y nadie había hecho un estudio serio de esa asociación

«A bit about me—I’m a doctoral candidate at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley and I’m writing my dissertation on Burning Man. I’ve been coming to Burning Man since 1996, and so have been a participant first and a participant observer second. I volunteered for several years with the Media Team and have camped with the Blue Light District on and off since 1997.» — Reproduce la presentación que hizo de sí misma a los encuestados: candidata al doctorado en la Graduate Theological Union de Berkeley, asistente desde 1996 y voluntaria del Media Team

«Your identity will remain anonymous in any printed materials resulting from this survey, unless you specifically state that it is okay to refer to you by the name you provide.» — Consigna la promesa de anonimato de la encuesta, salvo que el encuestado autorizara ser nombrado

«In July 2004 this survey was posted to eplaya.burningman.com, bm.tribe.net, www.livejournal.com/community/burning_man, and burnman-list@dioxine.net; and also distributed to a number of the Burning Man organization’s “regional” contacts, with the assistance of senior staff member Andie Grace.» — Declara los canales por los que circuló la encuesta —el foro ePlaya, tribe.net, LiveJournal y una lista de correo— y los contactos regionales de la organización, con ayuda de Andie Grace

«These questions were a streamlined version of the questions I used as a guide for field interviews, although those often became more conversational and veered occasionally onto other topics as indicated by participants’ interests.» — Acota la relación entre encuesta y entrevistas: las preguntas fueron una versión simplificada de las que guiaron el trabajo de campo, más conversacionales y abiertas a otros temas

«Do you participate in any rituals, ritual-like activities, or performances at Burning Man? In general, do you consider yourself a religious or spiritual person? Please say more about what that means to you, why you do or do not. What has been your religious/ spiritual background? Do you think Burning Man is a religious or spiritual event? Why or why not? What does Burning Man mean to you? Anything else you want to add?» — Transcribe el cuestionario entero del apéndice 2, cuyas preguntas abiertas son la fuente de los testimonios citados en los capítulos segundo y cuarto

«Our mission is to produce the annual event known as “Burning Man” and to guide, nurture and protect the more permanent community created by its culture. Our intention is to generate a society that connects each individual to his or her creative powers, to participation in community, to the larger realm of civic life, and to the even greater world of nature that exists beyond society.» — Reproduce el enunciado de misión de la Burning Man Organization en su apéndice 3: producir el evento y guiar, nutrir y proteger la comunidad más permanente que su cultura crea, generando una sociedad que conecte a cada quien con sus poderes creativos, con la comunidad, con la vida cívica y con la naturaleza

«Burning Man is radically inclusive, and its meaning is potentially accessible to anyone. The touchstone of value in our culture will always be immediacy: experience before theory, moral relationships before politics, survival before services, roles before jobs, embodied ritual before symbolism, work before vested interest, participant support before sponsorship.» — Sigue el mismo enunciado: la inclusión radical, el significado accesible a cualquiera y la inmediatez como piedra de toque —experiencia antes que teoría, relaciones morales antes que política, ritual encarnado antes que simbolismo, apoyo del participante antes que patrocinio

«Finally, in order to accomplish these ends, Burning Man must endure as a selfsupporting enterprise that is capable of sustaining the lives of those who dedicate themselves to its work. From this devotion spring those duties that we owe to one another. We will always burn the Man.» — Cierra el enunciado de misión: el festival ha de perdurar como empresa autosostenida capaz de sostener la vida de quienes se dedican a ella, y de esa devoción nacen los deberes mutuos (donde la cita imprime *selfsupporting*, el crudo parte *self-supporting* con guion de fin de renglón y la extracción por programa lo unió)

«The Burn, the operas, and the Temples are but a few of the most visible and large-scale examples of ritual at Burning Man. Many other small» — Abre la sección de variedades rituales del capítulo tercero: la quema, las óperas y los Templos son solo los ejemplos más visibles y de mayor escala; el tramo se corta en el guion de fin de renglón y la frase sigue *scale rites enacted at the festival involve individual, personally significant*

«Thus while most stated they were “hetero,” “straight,” “bi,” “queer,” or another relatively easily interpretable—and hence categorizable—response, a number of replies were impossible to classify. (I see this as entirely in keeping with the fluidity of identity and resistance to normativity that is so prevalent among the Burning Man populace.) Hence the numbers in this regard broke down more or less as follows: 40 percent heterosexual male; 24 percent heterosexual female; 5 percent bisexual male; 15 percent bisexual female; 3 percent gay male; 2 percent gay female; 7 percent inscrutable; 4 percent no response.» — Da el desglose de identidad sexual de su encuesta y declara por qué no impuso categorías: hubo respuestas imposibles de clasificar, que lee como parte de la fluidez de identidad del público

«The Burning Man organization’s census in both 2003 and 2004 also queried participants about sexual orientation but did not separately track gender. In 2003, 77 percent identified themselves as “heterosexual,” 7 percent as “homosexual,” and 16 percent as “bisexual.” In 2004, 70 percent reported they were “straight,” 8 percent “gay,” and 18 percent “bisexual”; 4 percent offered no or unclear responses.» — Contrasta con el censo de la propia organización de 2003 y 2004, que preguntó por orientación sexual sin registrar el género por separado

«Illustrations FIGURES 1. The Burning Man, 1996 2. “Mahayana Bus” and “Silver Skull” art cars by unknown artists, 2003 3. Gomonk and Builder Ben, Early Man, 2003 4. David Best, Temple of Joy, 2002 5. David Best, Temple of Honor, 2003 6. David Best, Temple of Stars, 2004 7. “Ronald McBuddha” by unknown artist, 2002 8. Irie Takeshi, The Medium Is the Religion, 2003» — La lista de ilustraciones del volumen nombra a los artistas de las obras fotografiadas —tres Templos de David Best, el *Ronald McBuddha* de autor desconocido y *The Medium Is the Religion* de Irie Takeshi— y deja en *unknown artists* los autos de arte

«Tables 1. Participants’ Perspectives on Religion and Spirituality 2. Age of Respondents at Time of Survey 3. Burning Man Organization Data on Participants’ Ages 4. Burning Man Organization Data on Participants’ Income, 2003 5. Burning Man Organization Data on Participants’ Income, 2004 6. Burning Man Organization Data on Participants’ Amounts Spent on the Event, 2003 7. Location of Survey Respondents 8. Survey Respondents’ Years Attended Burning Man» — El índice de tablas declara de dónde salen los datos cuantitativos del libro: una tabla propia de perspectivas sobre religión y espiritualidad y cinco de la Burning Man Organization sobre edad, ingreso y gasto

«First and foremost, I wish to thank the global community of Burning Man participants, without whom this project would quite obviously not have been possible.» — Los agradecimientos declaran la deuda primera del libro con la comunidad global de participantes del festival

«Finally, I am indebted to Burning Man’s founder and ongoing executive director, Larry Harvey, for his time, invaluable insights, and inspiration.» — Gilmore reconoce como informante al fundador y director ejecutivo del evento, Larry Harvey, lo que sitúa la voz de los organizadores dentro de sus fuentes

«Special thanks are also due to (Maid) Marian Goodell, who— unbeknownst to either of us at the time—helped to inspire much of the work that follows in these pages when she invited me to join the fledgling Burning Man Media Team in 1998, thus deepening my involvement in and commitment to this community.» — La autora consigna su propia entrada al círculo interno: Marian Goodell la invitó al Media Team del festival en 1998, antes de que hubiera proyecto de investigación

«and to Ronald L. Grimes, who participated in one of the seminar discussions held in conjunction with this program, for his singularly insightful and helpful grilling.» — Entre los apoyos académicos nombra al ritólogo Ronald L. Grimes, con quien el libro discutirá después la crítica ritual

«The DVD that accompanies this book has been a collaborative project between my husband, Ron Meiners, my mother, Elizabeth Gilmore, and me.» — El DVD que acompaña al volumen se declara obra de tres: Ron Meiners, esposo de la autora; Elizabeth Gilmore, su madre; y ella misma

«It is only in the past few decades that anthropology has begun to embrace this dimension of the study of cultures, but reflexive ethnographic strategies are increasingly understood and accepted as critical methods.» — Sitúa su método en una historia disciplinaria: solo en las últimas décadas la antropología asumió la reflexividad, hoy aceptada como método crítico

«Turner later developed the term liminoid to refer to liminal-like phenomena in industrial societies—such as pilgrimages, carnivals, and theater— reserving liminality itself specifically for the transitional phase in “traditional” or “indigenous” cultural rites.» — Expone la distinción de Victor Turner entre lo liminoide —peregrinaciones, carnavales y teatro de las sociedades industriales— y la liminalidad reservada a los ritos *tradicionales* o *indígenas*

«Turner broadened and amplified the liminal phase, characterizing it as prompting social experiences marked by feelings of communal unity, egalitarianism, and connectedness that he called communitas, experiences that he saw as disrupting the structure of normative hierarchical relationships and social institutions.» — Resume la aportación de Turner: amplió la fase liminal y llamó *communitas* a la unidad, el igualitarismo y la conexión que ve interrumpiendo las jerarquías normativas

«Our intent in producing the DVD has been to provide a vibrant complement to the text that extends its usability by enabling multiple modes of conversation and interaction between readers and the material.» — Explica el propósito del DVD anexo: complemento del texto que abre modos de conversación e interacción con el material

«As with the text, the visual component does not purport to be an objective or comprehensive view of the events of Burning Man but rather is filtered through the lenses of those of us who worked closely to produce this portion of the project.» — Extiende al video la misma reserva que al texto: no pretende ser una vista objetiva ni comprensiva, sino filtrada por quienes lo produjeron

«CHART 1. Black Rock City, 2001. Chart designed by Larry Harvey and Rod Garrett. Adapted by Bill Nelson from an illustration by Lisa Hoffman (www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/2001/ photos/2001_map.gif). Copyright Black Rock City LLC. Used with permission.» — El pie del plano de Black Rock City acredita el diseño a Larry Harvey y Rod Garrett, la adaptación a Bill Nelson y la ilustración de base a Lisa Hoffman, con copyright de Black Rock City LLC

«The consumer researchers Robert Kozinets and John Sherry examined the ways in which Burning Man simultaneously resists and participates in traditional market economies.» — Nombra a los investigadores del consumo Robert Kozinets y John Sherry, que examinaron cómo el festival resiste y a la vez participa de las economías de mercado tradicionales

«This trend eventually came to be understood not as the total disappearance of religion from society but rather as the disestablishment of religion from the public sphere, which was thought in turn to result in an increased privatization and individualization of the religious sphere.» — Reformula la tesis de la secularización tal como acabó entendiéndose: no desaparición de la religión, sino su desestablecimiento de la esfera pública, con la consiguiente privatización e individualización

«An influential study by Robert Bellah and colleagues concluded that U.S. society is increasingly characterized by a spiritual individualism that threatens to weaken the social fabric of healthy communities rooted in traditional, church-based understandings of faith, morality, and community responsibility.» — Expone la tesis de Robert Bellah y colegas: la sociedad estadounidense tiende a un individualismo espiritual que amenaza el tejido de comunidades arraigadas en la fe de iglesia

«Others, such as Robert Wuthnow, concluded that as individuals feel less compelled to cleave to particular religious territories, there is a corresponding lack of boundaries around religious identities. He worried that this new spiritual freedom was ultimately rootless and lacking any foundation in historical, cultural, and community-based traditions.» — Expone la posición de Robert Wuthnow: al aflojarse la adhesión a territorios religiosos concretos se pierden los contornos de la identidad religiosa, y esa libertad nueva le parecía desarraigada

«Wade Clark Roof, in his examination of “seekers” in the so-called American spiritual marketplace, found individuals across the social spectrum striving to engage in reflexive, personal experiences of spirituality, in which they create their own spiritual identities, practices, and beliefs, connecting this process to Lévi-Strauss’s concept of bricolage. In so doing, they become more aware that their perspectives are but one among a plurality of possibilities instead of relying on inherited faith and church teachings as the sole authorities on the divine.» — Expone la posición de Wade Clark Roof sobre los *seekers* del mercado espiritual estadounidense, que fabrican su propia identidad espiritual —proceso que él enlaza con el *bricolage* de Lévi-Strauss— y se saben una posibilidad entre muchas

«For example, Richard Flory argued that GenXers display “religious entrepreneurship,” by which he meant that they are not simply religious consumers, although they are that, but also producers, actively creating new groups in the marketplace for themselves, regardless of whatever might have been provided for them by existing religious groups» — Expone la tesis de Richard Flory sobre el *emprendimiento religioso* de la Generación X: no solo consumidores religiosos, sino productores que crean grupos nuevos al margen de lo que ofrezcan los existentes

«Xer seeking is more than just a quest for an individualistic spiritual experience—Xers are instead looking for and creating community, belonging, and authenticity, which can only be measured within the religious community.» — Sigue la misma exposición de Flory: la busca de los X no es solo experiencia espiritual individual, sino creación de comunidad, pertenencia y autenticidad, medibles solo dentro de la comunidad religiosa

«Turner wrote, “We thus encounter the paradox that the experience of communitas becomes the memory of communitas, with the result that communitas itself in striving to replicate itself historically develops a social structure.”» — Cita a Turner sobre la paradoja de la *communitas*: al volverse memoria y buscar replicarse históricamente, desarrolla una estructura social

«The religion scholar Sarah Pike concluded, “Death rites at the Mausoleum transformed private grief and loss into public expression in ways that are generally unavailable to most contemporary Americans.”» — Cita la conclusión de la estudiosa de la religión Sarah Pike sobre los ritos funerarios del Mausoleo: vuelven público un duelo privado de un modo que a los estadounidenses de hoy no suele estarles disponible

«It is noteworthy that two of Turner’s sons, Alex Turner and Rory Turner, contacted the Burning Man organization some years ago in order to find out whether or not the festival had been intentionally modeled on their father’s theories.» — Consigna un dato de recepción: dos hijos de Turner, Alex y Rory Turner, escribieron a la organización para saber si el festival se había modelado a propósito sobre las teorías de su padre

«There are few ritual leaders and inventors these days who have not read something of the theories of Frazer, van Gennep, Eliade, Turner, or Geertz, either in an original or popularized form.» — Cita a Catherine Bell, crítica ocasional de Turner, sobre el vuelco popular a las teorías rituales como prototipos de diseño: pocos líderes e inventores de ritos no han leído algo de Frazer, van Gennep, Eliade, Turner o Geertz

«Turner, in particular, by identifying a “ritual process” weaving its way through micro and macro social relations and symbol systems, has been the authority behind much American ritual invention» — Sigue la misma cita de Bell: Turner, por haber identificado un *ritual process* que atraviesa las relaciones sociales y los sistemas simbólicos, ha sido la autoridad detrás de buena parte de la invención ritual estadounidense

«For modern ritualists devising ecological liturgies, crafting new age harmonies, or drumming up a fire in the belly, the taken-for-granted authority to do these things and the accompanying conviction about their efficacy lie in the abstraction “ritual” that scholars have done so much to construct.» — Cierra la cita de Bell: la autoridad que los ritualistas modernos dan por sentada y su convicción sobre la eficacia descansan en la abstracción *ritual* que los académicos tanto contribuyeron a construir

«Turner perceived them as neatly mapped onto the threefold processes of rites of passage.» — Expone cómo veía Turner las peregrinaciones: calcadas sobre el proceso triple de los ritos de paso

«Dean MacCannell noted that while modern tourism depends on both the leisure time and “disposable” income provided by capitalist mechanisms, it is also seen to furnish a release from those very systems as individuals go in search of something felt to be more authentic.» — Expone la observación de Dean MacCannell: el turismo moderno depende del tiempo libre y del ingreso disponible que el capitalismo provee, y a la vez se lo tiene por liberación de esos mismos sistemas

«For example, James Carey notably and influentially argued that communications theorists would be well served to shift from a “transmission” view of communication to a “ritual” view, with his understanding of communication as entailing both “participation” and “community.”» — Expone la propuesta de James Carey: pasar de una visión de la comunicación como transmisión a una visión ritual, que implica participación y comunidad

«Others, such as Daniel Dayan and Elihu Katz, evocatively applied Turner’s ritual theories in arguing that the media construct social rituals in response to significant national or international events, serving to cast public figures in mythic roles, confer legitimacy, reaffirm social values, redefine social boundaries, and inscribe memory and history (among other attributes), ultimately engendering a sense of communitas among very large audiences.» — Expone la aplicación que Daniel Dayan y Elihu Katz hicieron de Turner: los medios construyen ritos sociales ante acontecimientos nacionales o internacionales, reparten papeles míticos, confieren legitimidad y engendran *communitas* en audiencias enormes

«Nick Couldry called for a “post-Durkheimian” approach to understanding the ritualistic power of the media, arguing that although the media’s claim to wield a centralizing social authority is not as totalizing or all-encompassing as others have held it to be, the media nevertheless claim to wield such power and that this in itself is significant.» — Expone la propuesta post-durkheimiana de Nick Couldry: la pretensión de los medios de ejercer una autoridad social centralizadora no es tan totalizante como se dijo, pero la pretensión misma ya es significativa

«Couldry also observed that in any social gathering, such as an annual music festival, one can “quickly find in people’s clothes, bodily style, language and so on, traces of countless other spaces and histories, all quite independent from that gathering and not specifically intended to be expressed there.”» — Cita a Couldry sobre lo que se halla en cualquier reunión social: rastros de innumerables otros espacios e historias, independientes de esa reunión y no destinados a expresarse allí

«located the ritualistic quality of “the news” in its repetitiveness: “The ritual is in the format, in the programming, not in the content as such.» — Cita a Richard Schechner sobre dónde está lo ritual del noticiero: en el formato y la programación, no en el contenido

«Michael Schudson has argued that “objectivity” should be understood to mean that a person’s statements about the world can be trusted if they are submitted to established rules deemed legitimate by a professional community. Facts here are not aspects of the world, but consensually validated statements about it.» — Expone la definición de objetividad de Michael Schudson: las declaraciones son fiables si se someten a reglas que una comunidad profesional tiene por legítimas, de modo que los hechos no son aspectos del mundo sino enunciados validados por consenso

«It is a “strategic ritual,” as sociologist Gaye Tuchman puts it, which journalists use to defend themselves against mistakes and criticism.» — Cita a la socióloga Gaye Tuchman: la objetividad es un *ritual estratégico* con que los periodistas se defienden de errores y críticas

«Jerome Baggett: “The people who are going to Burning Man—Boomers and Xers—are the most educated generations in history. They’re trained to question.”» — Cita al sociólogo Jerome Baggett en la prensa: quienes van al festival, *boomers* y generación X, son las generaciones más educadas de la historia y están entrenadas para cuestionar

«Michael York has contended that paganism may be best understood as a “root religion”; that is, to some extent it underlies all global religions.» — Expone la tesis de Michael York sobre el paganismo como *religión raíz* que subyace en alguna medida a todas las religiones del mundo

«Henry Jenkins has called this process and its wideranging societal impacts “convergence culture,” meaning a place “where old and new media collide, where grassroots and corporate media intersect, where the power of the media producer and the power of the media consumer interact in unpredictable ways.”» — Expone la *convergence culture* de Henry Jenkins: el sitio donde chocan los medios viejos y nuevos, se cruzan los de base y los corporativos y los poderes del productor y del consumidor interactúan de modo impredecible (la fuente imprime *wideranging*, palabra unida en el corte de renglón)

«According to Jenkins, this shift in the flows of media content from the top down to the bottom up is fostering a more “participatory culture” and building “collective intelligence.”» — Sigue a Jenkins: el vuelco del flujo de contenidos de arriba abajo a de abajo arriba alimenta una cultura más participativa y una inteligencia colectiva

«Sherry Turkle has concluded that constructions of identity in on-line spaces exemplify the ways in which “the self is multiple and constructed by language.”» — Expone la conclusión de Sherry Turkle sobre las identidades en línea: ejemplifican que el yo es múltiple y está construido por el lenguaje

«Mary Chayko has described Internet-based relationships as “sociomental,” meaning “an experience of communion with another person, one that does not depend on face-to-face meetings to be initiated or maintained.”» — Expone la noción de Mary Chayko de los vínculos por internet como *sociomentales*: una experiencia de comunión que no depende del encuentro cara a cara

«As Grimes has written, the act of “shooting rites” does many things: it “documents, reveals, validates, publicizes, mystifies, constructs, dramatizes, violates, (dis)embodies, and complicates.”» — Cita a Ronald Grimes sobre lo que el acto de filmar ritos hace a la vez: documenta, revela, valida, publicita, mistifica, construye, dramatiza, viola, (des)encarna y complica

«For example, Walter Brueggemann wrote, “Rev. Billy is a faithful prophetic figure who stands in direct continuity with ancient prophets in Israel and in continuity with the great prophetic figures of U.S. history who have incessantly called our society back to its core human passions of justice and compassion.”» — Cita a Walter Brueggemann, que coloca a Reverend Billy en continuidad directa con los profetas de Israel y con las grandes figuras proféticas de la historia estadounidense

«See, among other sources, Bellah et al., Habits of the Heart; Ellwood, Alternative Altars; Fuller, Spiritual, but Not Religious; Kripal, Esalen; Lynch, The New Spirituality; Roof, Spiritual Marketplace; Schmidt, Restless Souls; Wuthnow, After Heaven.» — La primera nota del volumen da la bibliografía en que apoya la fórmula del título: Bellah, Ellwood, Fuller, Kripal, Lynch, Roof, Schmidt y Wuthnow

«This choice is also made in part out of respect for the Burning Man organization, which prefers that public representations of the event do not foreground the practice of consuming licit or illicit drugs. There are both pragmatic and ideological reasons for this policy, which are discussed in more detail in chapter 5.» — Una nota añade otra razón para dejar fuera las drogas: el respeto a la preferencia de la organización de que las representaciones públicas no pongan esa práctica al frente

«The final reason that I opted to leave this aspect of the event aside is because these are not practices that I indulge in, and hence I lack the insider’s perspective and interest that has been key to my other insights regarding the event.» — La misma nota da una tercera razón, personal: no practica ese consumo y por tanto carece de la mirada de adentro que ha sido clave en sus otras observaciones

«Select sources from Victor Turner that I primarily draw on here are The Ritual Process; Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors; From Ritual to Theatre; The Anthropology of Performance; and Turner and Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture.» — Una nota declara qué obras de Victor Turner usa el libro: The Ritual Process; Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors; From Ritual to Theatre; The Anthropology of Performance; y, con Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture

«Turner is by no means without important critics, and my strategic applications of his ideas are modified by more recent contributions to ritual studies, looking particularly to Ronald L. Grimes’s conception of ritual as an analytic construct and a “tool to think by,” as well as Catherine Bell’s understanding of ritual as a reified scholarly construction. See especially Grimes’s Beginnings in Ritual Studies; Ritual Criticism; Deeply into the Bone; and Rite Out of Place; and Bell’s Ritual Theory/Ritual Practice» — Una nota declara con qué modera el uso de Turner: la concepción del ritual como constructo analítico y *herramienta para pensar* de Ronald L. Grimes y el ritual como construcción académica reificada de Catherine Bell

«According to Doherty, “The notion of the ‘Cacophony Zone Trip’ was derived from Andrei Tarkovsky’s Stalker, a beloved art-school film that features a mysterious Zone that looks like the rest of the world but in which bizarre, inexplicable things occur.” See Doherty, This Is Burning Man, 49.» — Una nota da, según Brian Doherty, el origen del *Cacophony Zone Trip*: el filme Stalker de Andrei Tarkovsky, con su Zona misteriosa donde ocurren cosas inexplicables

«Organizers state that Shuster’s “inspiration for Zozobra came from the Holy Week celebrations of the Yaqui Indians of Mexico; an effigy of Judas, filled with firecrackers, was led around the village on a donkey and later burned.”» — Una nota consigna la genealogía que los organizadores dan al Zozobra: la Semana Santa de los yaquis de México, con una efigie de Judas llena de cohetes paseada en burro y quemada

«However, the authenticity of this lineage is contested by some members of the local community, who view Zozobra as “an Anglo attempt to secularize the Fiesta, to push in on and take over a Spanish event, a real and quasireligious ceremony celebrating the Spanish conquest of New Mexico.”» — La misma nota consigna, sin armonizar, la disputa local: hay quienes ven en el Zozobra un intento anglosajón de secularizar la Fiesta y apoderarse de una ceremonia española (donde la cita imprime *quasireligious*, el crudo parte *quasi-religious* con guion de fin de renglón y la extracción por programa lo unió)

«Also held annually in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the Beltane Fire Festival, a public event commemorating the May 1 feast of Beltane. This event doesn’t feature a burning effigy but does showcase hundreds of fire performers, and given its “tribalesque” look and feel, its visual similarity to some aspects of Burning Man is striking.» — Una nota trae el Beltane Fire Festival de Edimburgo como caso vecino: sin efigie ardiente pero con cientos de artistas del fuego y un aire *tribalesco* de parecido visual notable

«Harvey, “Media Myths.” Former organizer John Law disputes Harvey’s contention that he had not seen The Wicker Man film before the first Burn in 1986. See Law v. Harvey, Mikel, Paper Man, LLC, and Black Rock City, LLC, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (available at http://laughingsquid.com/other/ john_law_burning_man_complaint.pdf; accessed January 5, 2009). Rather than engage in a protracted and almost certainly unprovable discursion into either side of this allegation, I have opted in this matter —as well as in other potentially contested points regarding the event’s origins—to accept Harvey’s most popularly accepted version, along with that provided by Doherty.» — Una nota consigna el desacuerdo sobre el origen del nombre: John Law disputa que Harvey no hubiera visto The Wicker Man antes de 1986, y la autora declara que opta por la versión de Harvey y de Doherty en lugar de arbitrar el pleito

«The Suicide Club was chosen as a name, based on the Robert Louis Stevenson story of a club that gamed at midnight, the losers forfeiting their lives. The name was chosen to alienate and frighten people away.» — Una nota da el origen del nombre del Suicide Club: el relato de Robert Louis Stevenson sobre un club que jugaba a medianoche y cuyos perdedores pagaban con la vida, elegido para ahuyentar a la gente

«In early 2007 John Law sued both Larry Harvey and Michael Michael over the right to control the “Burning Man” trademark, to which he still had a legal claim.» — Una nota fecha el litigio por la marca: a comienzos de 2007 John Law demandó a Larry Harvey y a Michael Michael por el control del nombre *Burning Man*

«Designed by the Seeman art collective, led by Kal Spelletich. These corporate behemoths were mocked when each of these pieces, including a 30-foot papier-mâché skyscraper, was set aflame in a sensational performance that culminated in John Law’s rapid flight down the tower via zip-cord as the structure began to catch fire.» — Una nota acredita al colectivo Seeman, dirigido por Kal Spelletich, las piezas satíricas de HelCo, y narra la huida de John Law por una tirolesa desde el rascacielos de papel maché en llamas

«All names given here are those participants requested I use; hence some may be legal names, some may be nicknames (or playa names), and some may be pseudonyms fashioned only for participation in this study. A handful of participants asked to remain anonymous, in which case I assigned a numeric identity for them. I also retained some stylistic quirks in both e-mail responses and verbal replies, although I corrected spelling and minor grammatical errors.» — Una nota declara la política de nombres y de transcripción de los testimonios: se usan los que cada quien pidió —legales, de playa o seudónimos—, se asignó identidad numérica a los anónimos y se conservaron rarezas de estilo enmendando ortografía y gramática menor

«Interestingly, the number of respondents who cited affiliations with specific Christian or Jewish denominations (totaling 16 Christians and 3 Jews) was slightly higher than the number who named less “mainstream” affiliations, such as Buddhism and contemporary Paganism (4 Buddhists, 8 Pagans, and a few others such as Taoists and Hindus).» — Una nota da las cifras de afiliación declarada en su encuesta: 16 cristianos y 3 judíos frente a 4 budistas, 8 paganos y algunos taoístas e hindúes

«Bellah and colleagues termed this trend “Sheilaism,” after the pseudonym of one of their interviewees, who described her religious orientation with this oft-cited statement: “I believe in God. I’m not a religious fanatic. I can’t remember the last time I went to church. My faith has carried me a long way. It’s Sheilaism. Just my own little voice.”» — Una nota trae el *sheilaísmo* de Bellah y colegas, nombrado por la encuestada que decía creer en Dios, no recordar cuándo fue por última vez a la iglesia y llamar a su fe por su propio nombre

«As an alternative to either the rootless “spirituality of seeking” or rigid “spirituality of dwelling” (which he felt lacked the fluidity and negotiability necessitated by our constantly and rapidly shifting social landscape), Wuthnow proposed a “spirituality of practice” that would embrace the deeper sense of community and commitment implicit in a spirituality of dwelling while also welcoming the freedoms and inspirations of a spirituality of se» — Una nota expone la *spirituality of practice* que Wuthnow propuso entre la busca desarraigada y el morar rígido; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y remata *seeking*

«the sociologists Roger Finke and Rodney Stark concluded from their examination of the history of “corporate” (i.e., institutional) U.S. religions that the perceived “eruption” of new and alternative religious movements since the 1960s is in fact “far better characterized by stability and continuity. Although significant changes have occurred, or at least been recently recognized, they were the result not of sudden eruptions but of gradual, long-term, linear shifts.”» — Una nota consigna la posición contraria de Roger Finke y Rodney Stark: la *erupción* de movimientos religiosos nuevos desde los sesenta se describe mejor por la estabilidad y la continuidad

«In June 2008 Addis pled guilty to the lesser felony charges of damaging property. His sentence generated intense debate among Burners as well.» — Una nota cierra el caso de Paul Addis: en junio de 2008 se declaró culpable del cargo menor de daño a la propiedad, y su sentencia también dividió a los Burners

«Paul Addis was paroled in June 2009 and released in September 2009. Arrested in late October 2007 and held without release until his parole, he served a total of twenty-two months.» — Una nota da el cómputo de su condena: preso desde octubre de 2007 hasta su libertad condicional, veintidós meses en total

«It has been argued that Turner too often attempted to universally ascribe the qualities of liminality and communitas to the rituals he studied most closely—that is, rites of passage and pilgrimages—without sufficient attention to the ways in which these frameworks may, at various times and in various contexts, break down or be inapplicable in the idealized ways that he was sometimes prone to advance. See, e.g., Eade and Sallnow, Contesting the Sacred; Grimes, Ritual Criticism; Bell, Ritual Theory / Ritual Practice; Sax, Mountain Goddess; and Bynum, “Women’s Stories, Women’s Symbols.”» — Una nota reúne a los críticos de Turner —Eade y Sallnow, Grimes, Bell, Sax, Bynum— por atribuir liminalidad y *communitas* a los ritos que estudió sin atender a los contextos donde esos marcos no se sostienen

«Turner called this the subjunctive mood of ritual—that is, “always concerned with ‘wish, desire, possibility, or hypothesis’; it is a world ‘as if’; not ‘it is so’”» — Una nota trae el modo subjuntivo del ritual de Turner, siempre ocupado del deseo, la posibilidad o la hipótesis: un mundo del *como si* y no del *es así*

«The libretto was based on translations of ancient Sumerian and Akkadian hymns to the Goddess Inanna / Ishtar. See Wolkstein and Kramer, Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth.» — Una nota declara la fuente del libreto de The Temple of Ishtar: traducciones de himnos sumerios y acadios a la diosa Inanna o Ishtar, en la edición de Wolkstein y Kramer

«Between 1996 and 2002 Gadeken installed a series of 100-to 300-foot-long canvas paintings on the playa, each of which was created with the help of his community of friends in the Illumination Village theme camp and ceremonially burned at some point during the event.» — Una nota documenta la obra de Charles Gadeken: entre 1996 y 2002 instaló lienzos pintados de treinta a noventa metros, hechos con su comunidad del campamento Illumination Village y quemados ceremonialmente

«Those who volunteer for the organization are explicitly invited to create playa names for themselves, which are used as radio handles for internal communication during the event.» — Una nota explica el origen institucional de los nombres de playa: a los voluntarios se los invita a crearse uno, que sirve de indicativo de radio durante el evento

«These efforts were initially dubbed the “Temple to Temple” project because several members of the Temple construction crew were among the first to be involved.» — Una nota consigna el nombre inicial del auxilio tras Katrina, *Temple to Temple*, porque varios de la cuadrilla que construía el Templo estuvieron entre los primeros en sumarse

«It does not actually matter that some participants inevitably capture moving images without signing a personal or other use agreement, as the fact that organization has consistently articulated this policy renders it legally binding.» — Una nota precisa el alcance legal de la política de imágenes: basta que la organización la haya enunciado de forma consistente para que obligue, aunque algunos capten imágenes sin firmar

«MTV’s sister channel, VH1, coproduced a documentary series, The Drug Years, that traced the history and cultural impact of illicit drug use in the United States and featured a short clip of the Burning Man festival at the end of the last episode. Organizers had not approved of this project and were not even aware of it until it aired in mid-2006. However, they were unable to retroactively censure the series because the producers had acquired old footage of Burning Man that predated the organization’s current media policies.» — Una nota narra el caso de VH1 y su serie The Drug Years, que usó material antiguo del festival sin aprobación y que la organización no pudo censurar retroactivamente

«Schudson traced the “ideal of objectivity” in the media to the Associated Press’s origin in 1848, but it wasn’t until after World War I that journalists began to question the nature of vested interests, propaganda, and their own potential collusion with these forces, such that they collectively began to strive for “objectivity.”» — Una nota data el ideal de objetividad según Schudson en el origen de la Associated Press en 1848, y su afirmación como tal solo después de la Primera Guerra Mundial

«Gitlin defined media frames as “little tacit theories about what exists, what happens,… what matters [,]… persistent patterns of cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis, and exclusion, by which symbol handlers routinely organize discourse, whether verbal or visual”» — Una nota trae la definición de Todd Gitlin de los marcos mediáticos: teorías tácitas sobre qué existe, qué pasa y qué importa, con sus patrones persistentes de selección, énfasis y exclusión

«Curiously, what initially drew me to Meethan’s book was not its content but its cover, which features a photograph of Pepe Ozan’s 1996 City of Dis (see DVD, chap. 6). However, the text makes no mention of Burning Man, not even in the photo caption on the book jacket.» — Una nota narra un hallazgo de lectura: la portada del libro de Meethan sobre turismo lleva una foto de la City of Dis de Pepe Ozan de 1996 sin que el texto mencione el festival ni siquiera en el pie

«I cannot help but read his ironic choice as reflecting the notion that Burning Man, or at least one its key early images, exemplifies touristic quests for a romanticized premodernity but one that has emerged in a distinctly modern (or “postmodern”) milieu.» — La misma nota da su lectura: esa elección irónica muestra al festival, o a una de sus imágenes tempranas, como ejemplo de la busca turística de una premodernidad romantizada surgida en un medio moderno

«Although it is largely inactive as of this writing, burnman-list@dioxine.net—founded and hosted by Burner Eric Pouyoul since 1994—was once a key online presence for the event and its “official” e-mail list in the mid-to late 1990s. It was also an important community and research resource for me when I first began to attend and study the event.» — Una nota consigna la lista de correo fundada y hospedada por Eric Pouyoul desde 1994, que fue la presencia en línea del evento a finales de los noventa y recurso de investigación de la autora

«For example, in late 2004 and early 2005 a group calling itself “Borg2” challenged the Burning Man organization’s art granting process, demanding greater transparency and democracy. This effort was largely organized and driven on-line, relying extensively on the tribe.net community forums. Although the campaign did not succeed in its quest to effect changes in the BMorg’s art granting process, it did succeed in raising funds for artwork and reduced complacency about the process on the part of both participants and organizers.» — Una nota documenta la impugnación interna de 2004-2005: el grupo *Borg2* exigió transparencia y democracia en el reparto de becas de arte y, aunque no logró cambiar el procedimiento, recaudó fondos y redujo la complacencia

«In other regards, too, my long involvement with the event has sometimes meant that my perspectives and analyses have, sometimes unwittingly, filtered into others’ representations of Burning Man.» — Una nota consigna un efecto de su propia posición: sus perspectivas se han filtrado, a veces sin saberlo, en las representaciones ajenas del festival

«For example, in his book, Authentic Fakes, David Chidester cited Larry Harvey as stating, “Burning Man brings together art, performance, fire, and temporary community to create what has been called ‘ritual without dogma.’» — La misma nota da el caso: David Chidester citó a Harvey diciendo que el festival crea lo que se ha llamado *ritual without dogma*

«When I initially (re)read those words they struck me as oddly familiar, so I Googled them. Sure enough, though the quotation draws on terms and phrases that Harvey had used, I actually wrote that sentence in 1999 when, while employed at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, I arranged to have Harvey speak at the week» — Y la nota consigna el hallazgo: la frase que da título al capítulo tercero la escribió la propia autora en 1999, cuando trabajaba en Grace Cathedral de San Francisco y organizó una charla de Harvey; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«From the mid-1980s through the early 1990s Talen codirected a successful and well-respected San Francisco theater company, Life on the Water. When the company folded, he moved to New York, where he eventually reinvented himself as “Reverend Billy.” He was inspired in part by his friend and mentor the Rev. Sidney Lanier, an Episcopal priest (and cousin of Tennessee Williams) with long ties to the New York theater community whose parish, St. Clement’s in Hell’s Kitchen, serves part-time as a theater for which Talen became the house manager.» — Una nota da la biografía teatral de Bill Talen: codirigió la compañía Life on the Water en San Francisco, se mudó a Nueva York y se reinventó como Reverend Billy, inspirado por el sacerdote episcopal Sidney Lanier

«Specific venues have ranged from a spectacular art deco Spiegeltent to the parish hall of St. Mark’s (Episcopal) Church-in-the-Bowery. Their public demonstrations have included “prayer meetings” in front of Ground Zero in New York in advance of the 2004 Republican Convention, as well as various rallies in support of union labor, antisweatshop legislation, and other progressive causes.» — Una nota inventaria los escenarios de Reverend Billy: de una carpa espejada art déco al salón parroquial de la iglesia episcopal de St. Mark's, con reuniones de oración frente a la Zona Cero y mítines por el trabajo sindical (donde la cita imprime *antisweatshop*, el crudo parte *anti-sweatshop* con guion de fin de renglón y la extracción por programa lo unió)

«Common Ground is a monthly newspaper that publishes listings of New Age goods and services.» — Una nota identifica Common Ground como el mensuario que publica listados de bienes y servicios New Age

«Asad, Talal. Genealogies of Religion: Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993. Baudrillard, Jean. Simulacra and Simulation. Translated by Sheila Faria Glaser. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1994. Beale, Scott. “John Law Sues His Former Burning Man Partners.” Available at http://laughingsquid.com/john-law-sues-his-formerburning-man-partners. Behar, Ruth. The Vulnerable Observer: Anthropology That Breaks Your Heart. Boston: Beacon Press, 1996. Bell, Catherine. Ritual Theory/Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. ___. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997. Bellah, Robert, et al. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life.» — La bibliografía abre con las obras de teoría de la religión y de la cultura que el libro usa: Asad, Baudrillard, Behar, los dos libros de Catherine Bell y Bellah (en la URL, donde la cita imprime *formerburning*, el crudo parte *former-burning* con guion de fin de renglón y la extracción por programa lo unió)

«Parts of chapters 3 and 4 were published as “Of Ordeals and Operas: Reflexive Ritualizing at the Burning Man Festival,” in Victor Turner and Contemporary Cultural Performance, edited by Graham St John (New York: Berghahn, 2008).» — Los créditos declaran la procedencia de los capítulos tercero y cuarto: un ensayo en el volumen sobre Victor Turner y la performance cultural contemporánea que editó Graham St John

«Earlier drafts of chapter 4 were published as “Embers Dust and Ashes: Pilgrimage and Healing at the Burning Man Festival,” in Pilgrimage and Healing, edited by Jill Dubisch and Michael Winkelman (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 2005); “Fires of the Heart: Ritual, Pilgrimage, and Transformation at Burning Man,” in AfterBurn: Reflections on Burning Man, edited by Lee Gilmore and Mark Van Proyen (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2005); and “Desert Pilgrimage: Liminality, Transformation, and the Other at the Burning Man Festival,” in On the Road to Being There: Studies in Pilgrimage and Tourism in Late Modernity, edited by William Swatos (Leiden: Brill Academic Press, 2006).» — Los créditos consignan tres versiones previas del capítulo cuarto, en volúmenes editados por Jill Dubisch y Michael Winkelman, por la propia autora con Mark Van Proyen, y por William Swatos

«An earlier version of chapter 5 was published as “Media Mecca: Rituals, Tropes, and Technopagans at the Burning Man Festival,” in Media, Religion, and the Marketplace, edited by Lynn S. Clark (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2007). Parts of chapter 6 were published as “Change-a-lujah! Destabilizing Normative Religion with Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir,” Council of Societies for the Study of Religion Bulletin 37, no. 1» — Los créditos consignan el origen del capítulo quinto en el volumen que editó Lynn S. Clark y el del sexto en un artículo del boletín del Council of Societies for the Study of Religion

«Turner, Victor. The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1969. ___. Dramas, Fields, and Metaphors: Symbolic Action in Human Society. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1974. ___, ed. Celebration: Studies in Festivity and Ritual. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982. ___. From Ritual to Theatre: The Human Seriousness of Play. New York: PAJ Publications, 1982.» — La bibliografía registra la edición de Cornell de 1969 de The Ritual Process de Victor Turner y las demás obras suyas que el libro usa; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana y la lista sigue en la 238 con The Anthropology of Performance y, con Edith Turner, Image and Pilgrimage in Christian Culture

«Stevens, Richard. “Burning for the Other: Semiotics of a Levinasian Theological Aesthetics in Light of Burning Man.” Ph.D. dissertation, Graduate Theological Union, 2003.» — La bibliografía registra una tesis doctoral previa sobre el festival, de Richard Stevens, en la misma Graduate Theological Union donde la autora se doctoró

«The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the e-Book. Please use the search function on your e-Reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below. Page numbers in italics refer to figures and tables.» — La advertencia con que abre el índice declara la mutilación de esta edición electrónica: el índice impreso se retiró del libro digital y solo quedan los términos, sin sus números de página

«Bell, Catherine, n Bell, JX Bellah, Robertn Beltane Fire Festival Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) Benn, James Solomon Best, David: art bus of, pastoral role of, Temples designed by,» — Una entrada del índice mutilado muestra el defecto: los nombres conservan la *n* que marcaba la nota y han perdido los números de plana

«Turner, Victor: communications theory and, critiques of influences on on liminality and communitas on pilgrimage on pilgrim and tourist, on playfulness on popular culture and countercultures, on structure and anti-structure, on subj» — La entrada de Victor Turner en el índice inventaria por dónde recorre el libro sus ideas: teoría de la comunicación, críticas, liminalidad y *communitas*, peregrinación, peregrino y turista, juego; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Paganism and Neopaganism: contemporary festivals of as cultural source, fire rituals of, identification with media focus on motifs of, openness to as root religion. See also technopaganism» — La entrada del índice sobre paganismo y neopaganismo inventaria sus usos en el libro: festivales contemporáneos, fuente cultural, ritos de fuego, identificación, foco mediático, motivos, apertura y religión raíz

«Wicca Wicker Man, The (film) Wickerman Festival wicker man storiesn “wild propane hunt, ” Winnie the Pooh (figurine) Wired (magazine) Woodstock (1969) Wuthno» — La entrada del índice registra a Wicca junto al Wicker Man, el Wickerman Festival y las historias del hombre de mimbre, la única aparición de la tradición como término indexado

«TABLE 3 Burning Man Organization Data on Participants’ Ages 2003 Age Percentage 18–21 3 22–25 10 26–30 22 31–39 37 41–50 17 51–60 9 61–70 2 Over 71 or under 18 <1» — Reproduce la tabla de edades de 2003 con que la organización mide a su público: el grueso, 37 por ciento, entre los 31 y los 39 años

«TABLE 4 Burning Man Organization Data on Participants’ Income, 2003 Annual Income Personal (%) Household (%) Under $15,000 12 6 $15,001–$25,000 12 7 $25,001–$50,000 31 21 $50,001– $75,000 19 19 $75,001–$100,000 10 15 $100,001–$200,000 8 17 Over $200,001 2 5 Declined to state 6 10» — Reproduce la tabla de ingresos de 2003 en que la autora funda su lectura de clase media: el tramo mayor, 31 por ciento personal, entre 25 001 y 50 000 dólares

«Amount Spent Percentage Over $3,000 4 $1,000–$3,000 18 $751–$1,000 17 $501–$750 24 $201–$500 31 $101–$200 4 $51–$100 1 <$20 <1 TABLE 7 Location of Survey Respondents TABLE 8 Survey Respondents’ Years Attended Burning Man» — Reproduce la tabla de gasto por asistente de 2003 —el tramo mayor entre 201 y 500 dólares— y los títulos de las dos tablas que cierran el apéndice

«DVD Contents 1. On the Playa 2. In the Culture 3. Festival 4. Ritual and Spirituality 5. Spiritual, but not Religious? 6. Temples and Operas 7. Conclusion» — El índice del DVD que acompaña al volumen reparte su material en siete capítulos, con uno propio para el ritual y la espiritualidad, otro para la fórmula del capítulo segundo y otro para los Templos y las óperas

«Text: 10/13 Sabon Display: Sabon Compositor: Westchester Book Group Indexer: Margie Towery DVD Producer: Elizabeth Gilmore Printer: Maple-Vail Book Manufacturing» — El colofón acredita la composición a Westchester Book Group, el índice a Margie Towery y la producción del DVD a Elizabeth Gilmore, la madre de la autora

«In order to take advantage of these networks, I created a Web-based survey and solicited Burners’ responses by publicizing it on various on-line discussion boards and e-mail lists. In addition, the Burning Man organization forwarded my appeal to its network of regional contacts. I received a total of 315 responses to this survey, representing approximately 1 percent of that year’s total attendance of 35,644. Combined with field interviews conducted from 2001 to 2004 and a small pilot e-mail survey conducted in 2001, my total sample was 336.» — Una nota da la muestra total del estudio: 315 respuestas en línea más entrevistas de campo de 2001 a 2004 y una encuesta piloto por correo, 336 en conjunto

«It is also noteworthy that Islamic imagery or practice is almost never found at Burning Man, possibly because of the prevailing cultural tensions between and stereotypes surrounding “Islam” and “the West,” as well as the relatively few Muslims (or those of Muslim descent) who attend the event.» — Una nota consigna una ausencia y la explica con cautela: casi no hay imaginería ni práctica islámica en el festival, acaso por las tensiones culturales y los estereotipos y por los pocos musulmanes que asisten

«He argued that a specifically spiritual orientation “consists of attitudes, ideas, lifestyles, and specific practices based upon a conviction (1) that the visible world is part of a more spiritual universe from which it draws its chief significance, and (2) that union or harmonious relation with this ‘spiritual more’ is our true end.”» — Una nota trae la definición de orientación espiritual de Robert Fuller: la convicción de que el mundo visible es parte de un universo más espiritual del que toma su significación, y de que la unión con ese *spiritual more* es nuestro fin verdadero

«Mangrum was director of communications (or, as he termed his role, Minister of Propaganda) for the Burning Man Project from 1993 to 1996.» — Una nota precisa el cargo de Stuart Mangrum y el nombre que él mismo le daba: director de comunicaciones o *ministro de propaganda* del proyecto entre 1993 y 1996

«In fact, there are but two essential reasons we maintain these increased controls on behalf of our community: to protect our participants so that images that violate their privacy are not displayed, and to prevent companies from using Burning Man to sell products.» — Una nota reproduce la respuesta de la organización a la Electronic Frontier Foundation sobre su control de imágenes: proteger la privacidad de los participantes e impedir que las empresas usen el festival para vender

«York, Pagan Theology, 167. Another Pagan scholar, Chas Clifton, has similarly speculated that “a Pagan theologian like Michael York, with his position that ‘Paganism is [a] root religion,’ could argue that Burning Man» — Una nota nombra la fuente de la tesis del paganismo como religión raíz —la Pagan Theology de Michael York— y a Chas Clifton, que especula con aplicarla al festival; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Also in 1997, pending a BLM-mandated environmental impact review, the event relocated temporarily to privately owned land on the nearby, smaller Hualapai playa. After engaging in a number of sometimes-contentious negotiations with various local agencies, the event was permitted to return to the Black Rock playa in 1998, where it has continued to take place ever since.» — Una nota fecha el destierro de un año: en 1997 el evento se mudó a la playa privada de Hualapai mientras la BLM revisaba el impacto ambiental, y volvió al Black Rock en 1998 tras negociaciones a veces ásperas

«The Seven Ages theme was modeled on a passage from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, act 2, scene 7: “All the world’s a stage,/And all the men and women merely players:/They have their exits and their entrances;/And one man in his time plays many parts,/His acts being seven ages.”» — Una nota da la fuente del tema de 2001, The Seven Ages: el pasaje de As You Like It de Shakespeare sobre el mundo como escenario y las siete edades del hombre

«I phrased the question this way because I wanted to encourage participants to think of “transformation” broadly, recognizing that individuals probably would have different understandings of this term. I also asked respondents to say more about how these changes had transpired for them and why they thought Burning Man brought about that transformation.» — Una nota explica la formulación de su pregunta sobre la transformación: la dejó amplia a propósito, sabiendo que cada quien entendería el término de otro modo

«Grimes has argued that the metaphorical linkages between media and ritual need to be treated with caution: The equating strategy (media = ritual) has limited utility. It turns heads, it attracts attention, but the shock value is short-lived» — Una nota trae la advertencia de Grimes sobre la analogía entre medios y ritual: la estrategia de igualarlos tiene utilidad limitada, llama la atención y su efecto de sorpresa dura poco

«When the Café was run by P, it was called the Café Temp Perdu, in honor of her favorite author, Marcel Proust.» — Una nota consigna el nombre anterior del Center Camp Café, Café Temp Perdu, por el autor favorito de quien lo llevaba

«In 1999 this “alpha” street was called Mercury (with subsequent streets named sequentially Venus, Earth, etc.), and in 2000 the first street was named Head Way, in keeping with the Body theme. But many participants continued to call this main causeway the Esplanade, and organizers returned to this designation in 2001.» — Una nota documenta el vaivén de nombres de la calle principal: Mercury en 1999, Head Way en 2000 por el tema del cuerpo, y de vuelta a Esplanade en 2001 porque los participantes nunca dejaron de llamarla así

«Robert V. Kozinets, “Can Consumers Escape the Market?” See also Kozinets and Sherry, “Welcome t» — Una nota da las dos fuentes de la lectura del festival como economía de regalo: el artículo de Robert V. Kozinets sobre si el consumidor puede escapar del mercado y su trabajo con Sherry; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«To assist in this transition, the San Francisco-based Burner community and several regional ones host “decompression parties” in the weeks after the event.» — Una nota consigna las *decompression parties* con que las comunidades regionales de Burners acompañan la vuelta al mundo por defecto

«In 2009 a new “Burning Opera” premiered in San Francisco titled How to Survive the Apocalypse: “a Burning Maninspired theatrical freak-out that combines rock opera, vaudeville, and a Dionysian revi» — Una nota registra la continuidad de la línea operística fuera del desierto: en 2009 se estrenó en San Francisco How to Survive the Apocalypse; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana (la fuente imprime *Burning Maninspired*, palabra que el troceo dejó pegada en el corte de renglón)

«The Black Rock Desert was declared a National Conservation Area in 2000 in part as a recognition of the historical value of these trails, which are several miles away from the part of playa where Burning M» — Una nota fecha en 2000 la declaración del Black Rock Desert como National Conservation Area, por el valor histórico de sus senderos; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«This document is mailed out in advance of the event to all ticket holders and is distributed at the gate to those who purchase their tickets on-site.» — Una nota consigna la circulación del Survival Guide: se envía por correo a todos los que compran boleto y se reparte en la puerta a quienes lo compran allí

«This newsletter is titled The Jackrabbit Speaks and is the organizers’ primary communications vehicle.» — Una nota nombra el boletín con que los organizadores se comunican con la comunidad, The Jackrabbit Speaks

«Response to on-line survey from queer orange voodoo, July 20, 2004. 53. Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.» — Una nota muestra el aparato de citación de los testimonios: cada respuesta lleva el nombre que el encuestado eligió y la fecha, seguida aquí de la referencia a Weber

«Brill, Louis. “The First Year in the Desert.” Available at www.burningman.com/whatisburningman/1986_1996/ firstyears.html; accessed January 5, 20» — La bibliografía registra el testimonio de Louis Brill sobre el primer año en el desierto, fuente del relato del traslado de 1990

«Davis, Erik. “Beyond Belief: The Cults of Burning Man.” In After Burn: Reflections on Burning Man, edited by Lee Gilmore and Mark Van Proyen, 16-40. Albuquerque: University of New» — La bibliografía registra el ensayo de Erik Davis sobre los cultos del festival, publicado en la antología que la propia autora coeditó con Mark Van Proyen

«Frazer, James George. The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion. Abridged ed. New York: Collier Books Macmillan, 1922.» — La bibliografía registra la edición abreviada de 1922 de The Golden Bough de James George Frazer, la fuente del linaje sacrificial que el capítulo primero discute

«Goffman, Erving. Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience. New York: Harper a» — La bibliografía registra el Frame Analysis de Erving Goffman, fuente de la noción de marco que el capítulo quinto aplica a los medios

«Hutton, Ronald. The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Great Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996» — La bibliografía registra The Stations of the Sun de Ronald Hutton, la fuente sobre el año ritual británico que se cita al discutir la noche de Guy Fawkes

«Niman, Michael I. People of the Rainbow: A Nomadic Utopia. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1997.» — La bibliografía registra el estudio de Michael I. Niman sobre el Rainbow Gathering, el festival con el que el libro compara la política de no venta

«Spiritual Marketplace: Baby Boomers and the Remaking of American Religion. Princeton: Princeton University P» — La bibliografía registra los dos libros de Wade Clark Roof sobre los *baby boomers* y el mercado espiritual estadounidense

«Wray, Matt. “Burning Man and the Rituals of Capitalism.” Bad Subjects 21 (September 1995). Available at http://bad.eserver.org/ issues/1995/21/wray.html» — La bibliografía registra el artículo de Matt Wray de 1995 sobre el festival y los ritos del capitalismo, de los más tempranos sobre el evento

«Rite out of Place: Ritual, Media, and the Arts. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.» — La bibliografía registra Rite out of Place de Grimes, sobre ritual, medios y artes, entre las obras suyas con que el libro modera el uso de Turner

«Lasn, Kalle. Culture Jam: The Uncooling of America™. New York: Eagle Brook/William Morrow, 1999. Lévi-Strauss, Claude. The Savage Mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1962.» — La bibliografía registra el Culture Jam de Kalle Lasn y The Savage Mind de Lévi-Strauss, las dos fuentes del *culture jamming* y del *bricolage* que el libro usa

«van Gennep, Arnold. The Rites of Passage. Translated by Monika B. Vizedom and Gabrielle L. Caffee. Chicago: Univ» — La bibliografía registra The Rites of Passage de Arnold van Gennep en la traducción de Vizedom y Caffee, la base del esquema tripartito que el libro aplica; el tramo se corta en el cambio de plana

«Black Rock Desert: compared to Black Rock City, description ofn as National Conservation Area pioneers in, proposed move to.» — La entrada del índice sobre el Black Rock Desert reúne sus usos: comparación con la ciudad, área de conservación nacional, pioneros y la mudanza propuesta

«Cacophony Society: alliances of, as cultural» — La entrada del índice sobre la Cacophony Society marca sus alianzas y su papel como fuente cultural del festival

«community: BRC layout geared toward, centrality of, in communications theory compared to communitas, egalitarian idealism vs. reality in enacted in daily lives encounters with, Internet’s potential for building multi» — La entrada del índice sobre la comunidad inventaria sus apariciones: el trazado de la ciudad, la teoría de la comunicación, la comparación con la *communitas* y el idealismo igualitario frente a la realidad

«decommodification: adherence to commercial travel and tourism juxtaposed to controversial exception to, as transformative i» — La entrada del índice sobre la descomodificación registra su adhesión, su excepción controvertida y su papel transformador

«DVD: book interwoven with early screenings of as mediated production, reflections on Shabbat ser vice filmed for» — La entrada del índice sobre el DVD registra su trenzado con el libro, su condición de producción mediada y el servicio de Shabat filmado para él (la fuente imprime *ser vice*, partida por el OCR)

«Fülling, Christopher: background of works: How to Survive the Apocalypse Le Mystere de Papa Loko» — La entrada del índice sobre Christopher Fülling registra su trasfondo y sus obras, entre ellas la ópera Le Mystère de Papa Loko

«Harvey, Larry: on artists and works on attendance, BRC LLC role of,» — La entrada del índice sobre Larry Harvey es de las más largas del volumen y enumera por dónde pasa su voz: artistas y obras, asistencia y su papel en la BRC LLC

«MacCannell, Dean Mad Max (film) magic. See also rites and rituals “Mahayana Bus” (art car), mainstream, use of term “Man, the.” See Burning Man» — La entrada del índice registra a Dean MacCannell y una entrada de *magic* que remite a ritos y rituales, única aparición del término como rubro propio

«methodology: concepts underlying interviews (in person and via e-mail) online surveyn participant observation» — La entrada del índice sobre la metodología inventaria sus piezas: entrevistas en persona y por correo, encuesta en línea y observación participante

«Piss Clear (newspaper) Plastic Chapel (Chapel of the Burning Rock) playa:» — La entrada del índice registra el periódico paródico Piss Clear y la Plastic Chapel entre las instituciones del festival

«seekers and seeking. See also authenticity Seeman art collective Segal, P» — La entrada del índice registra a los *seekers* remitiendo a la autenticidad, junto al colectivo Seeman

«Star Trek (television series and films) Starwood (gathering) Sterling, Bruce St John, Graham Stonehenge Free Festivals Stop Shopping Gospel Choir.» — La entrada del índice reúne en una línea las referencias de cultura popular y de estudio del festival: Star Trek, el encuentro Starwood, Bruce Sterling, Graham St John y los Stonehenge Free Festivals

«Ten Principles: civic responsibility creatively enacted beyond BRC default world in opposition to immediacy list» — La entrada del índice sobre los Diez Principios inventaria su tratamiento: responsabilidad cívica, ejecución creativa fuera de la ciudad, oposición al mundo por defecto e inmediatez

«controversial lighting of as festival climax, first, spontaneous, ideal vs. reality in influences on motivations for preparation for, residual traces of ritual burning of Temples compared with, in ritual theory tourists at.» — La entrada del índice sobre el Burn inventaria el tratamiento del rito: iluminación controvertida, clímax del festival, ideal contra realidad, motivaciones, rastros residuales y comparación con la quema de los Templos

«religious movements: current trends in historical context of REMSA (Regional Emergency Medical Ser vices Authority) Reverend Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir: as nonprofit theater company performances at Burning Man recordings o» — La entrada del índice sobre los movimientos religiosos y la de Reverend Billy y el Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, con su condición de compañía teatral sin fines de lucro

«Judaism: identification with rituals inspired by Shabbat service and theme camp linked to. See also Kabbalah Kabbalah: artwork using symbols of, identification with, rituals inspired by theme camp linked to. See also Judaism» — La entrada del índice sobre el judaísmo y la cábala consigna cómo aparecen en el libro: identificación, ritos inspirados, servicio de Shabat y campamento temático, y obra de arte con símbolos cabalísticos

«For credits, please see page 223. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data» — La página de derechos de esta edición electrónica conserva la remisión al folio impreso de los créditos —la página 223— que en el troceo cae en la plana 241: la única medida disponible de la relación entre plana y folio en este bloque

«Contents List of Illustrations List of Tables Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Into the Zone 2. “Spiritual, but Not Religious”? 3. Ritual without Dogma 4. Desert Pilgrimage 5. Media Mecca 6. Burn-a-lujah! Appendix 1. Demography: The Face of the Festival Appendix 2. On-Line Survey Appendix 3. Burning Man Organization Mission Statement Notes Bibliography DVD Contents Credits Index» — El índice de contenidos de esta edición electrónica no imprime los folios de sus entradas: es el primer indicio de que el volumen digital retiró la paginación impresa

Crítica de fuentes (criterios de inclusión y descarte) — Gilmore declara sus criterios y sus abstenciones: deja fuera el consumo de sustancias y dice las tres razones, opta por la versión de Harvey en la disputa sobre el nombre en vez de arbitrarla, data el Zozobra en 1924 contra la genealogía que se le atribuye y enmienda la cifra de incidentes médicos que la prensa dio por consumo de drogas.

Iniciación (recepción por grados / metamorfosis del ser) — El libro lee el festival con el esquema tripartito de rito de paso de van Gennep que Turner amplió —separación, fase liminal, agregación— y aplica a los Burners la *communitas* y el cambio de estatus o identidad, acotando que la separación del mundo ordinario no es tan total como el modelo suponía.

Cadena de transmisión (quién tomó de quién) — El circuito que el libro traza es de ida y vuelta: Turner absorbía elementos de la cultura popular en su teorizar, sus conceptos permearon la cultura y ahora los relatos de los participantes los citan y los organizadores rotulan *axis mundi* el centro de la ciudad; la autora halla además que una frase suya de 1999 volvió al libro citada como de Harvey.

Secreto (lo que se jura no fijar por escrito) — La organización administra lo que se puede mostrar: contratos que prohíben exhibir desnudos o consumo de drogas, veto a MTV, petición a las publicaciones de música electrónica de no listar el evento y exhibición pública en su boletín de los campamentos que dejan basura.