What is Burning Man festival? When it started, what does the name mean and where is it?

Burning Man is one of the most famous festivals in the US.

The 2023 edition has been hit by storms and heavy rain causing chaos. It led to reports of an ebola outbreak, which have been dismissed, and authorities have confirmed that a person has died - but no further details have been confirmed.

Running in the deserts of Nevada for decades, you might have heard the name Burning Man. But what exactly is it?

Here's all you need to know:

What is Burning Man?

It is a festival focused on community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance which takes place annually in Black Rock Desert Pershing County, Nevada. Around 80,000 people attend the festival each year.

The festival's name comes from its culminating ceremony in which a large wooden effigy, referred to as the Man, is burned. This event occurs on the penultimate night of the festival - the Saturday before Labor Day - however this was disrupted due to the weather in 2023.

On its website, Burning Man's official mission statement is as follows: "Burning Man Project’s 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 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.

"We believe that the experience of Burning Man can produce positive spiritual change in the world. To this end, it is equally important that we communicate with one another, with the citizens of Black Rock City and with the community of Burning Man wherever it may arise. 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 support before sponsorship. Finally, in order to accomplish these ends, Burning Man must endure as a self-supporting 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."

Where is Burning Man?

Originally starting in California, it now takes places in the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

When did Burning Man start?

The festival had humble origins starting as a bonfire ritual on the summer solstice in the 1980s. Burning Man as it is known today was first inaugurated on 22 June 1986, but sculptor Mary Grauberger - friend of festival founder Larry Harvey - had organised solstice bonfire gatherings in the years prior.

However it was not until 1986 that the bonfire took the form of a wooden man. By 1988, the summer solstice ritual had been named "Burning Man" - reportedly in a bid to ward off references to wicker man, the reputed Celtic pagan ritual.

Burning Man moved from California to Black Rock Desert in Nevada in the 1990s - where it has remained in the decades since.