Burnal Equinox: Eyes To The Skies

By Marcel Mosswood

One big event in Second Life has about to begin: The Burnal Equinox. What is Burnal Equinox and how is it held? To know about that I interviewed iSkye Silverweb, Communications Lead at Burn2 and Co-Event Lead for Burnal Equinox. Here is our conversation:

Marcel: What is the Burnal Equinox mission and vision?

iSkye Silverweb: BURN2 is an extension of the Burning Man culture and community into the world of Second Life. It is an officially sanctioned Burning Man Regional, and the only virtual world Regional out of more than 100 Regional groups worldwide.

This unique virtual Regional spreads the culture and Ten Principles of Burning Man year-round in Second Life by holding several events during the year and culminating in an annual major festival of community, art, and fire in the fall, nicknamed "Octoburn," which is a virtual echo of Burning Man itself.

Marcel: What is the aim of this event?

iSkye Silverweb: The aim of the Burnal Equinox event is to bring together creatives to build and create music around a specific theme. This year's Burnal Equinox theme is "Eyes to the Skies", a looking up to the stars - what is out there? Friday we celebrate Yuri's Night, the anniversary of the first human launch into space. The builds you will see around the playa on Deep Hole will reflect various artists' interpretations of this theme.

Marcel: Who is the avatar behind the idea of Burnal Equinox?

iSkye Silverweb: Burnal Equinox was originated organically by the Burn2 planning committee - it was a collective decision, not one of any single avatar. The theme was selected by the committee and then three posters were chosen by the BurningMan 2.0 community to represent the event. The posters are embedded here:

Marcel: Is there a real-life event or history inspiring you to organize this event on SL?

iSkye Silverweb: Burning Man started in 1986 with a group of friends burning a stick man on Baker Beach in San Francisco. Soon after, this became an annual tradition attracting large crowds, and the event was moved to the Black Rock Desert in Nevada.

Today, tens of thousands trek to the dry lake bed and set up camps in a temporary city that disappears without a trace after a week.

The Burn2 community centers all its activities around the Ten Principles of Burning Man.
All events are temporary, and at the end of each event, creatives leave no trace on the virtual playa; everything is cleared off and the playa is back to its pristine dry lake bed state.

Marcel: What is the website of Burn2 in SL?
iSkye Silverweb: Our website is at https://www.burn2.org
The Ten Principles of Burning Man can be found on this page:  https://www.burn2.org/about/the-ten-principles/

Burnal Equinox will be held on 12-14 April 2019
LM: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Burning%20Man-%20Deep%20Hole/143/73/55

Marcel Mosswood

The Burnal Equinox, Roman Spring Festival, and Walpurgisnacht

By Bixyl Shuftan

Quite a bit happened on Sunday April 30. It was the last day of the Burn2 Burnal Equinox festival, this year's theme being "The Sacred and the Profane."

An art and music festival, there were a number of exhibits at the Burning Man - Deep Hole sim, as well as stages for performers such as DJs.

One exhibit that caught my attention was that of a rotating ball, half firey sun and half desolate moon, over a landscape that was half water and tree-covered land, and half molten rock. Did it symbolize anything, or did it simply look cool (or hot?).

One visitor himself was looking like an exhibit, wearing a giant Transformers avatar, a combination robot formed by five others that had linked.

It was the second day of the Roma historical community's spring festival. Last year, I dropped by in time to check out their roleplaying the ritual of honoring the Roman goddess Ceres and their maze hunt to find a pomegranate and bring it out in time. This year, the event I saw was their "Legion Bread Race."

The runners were to grab some grain from the desk near the starting line, and then run from that around a course to the red line next to it. Along the way, they would have to put the grain in this mill, grind it into flour (by sitting on the handle), take the flour and run it to the stove, place it in (presumably already mixed with water) and wait for it to cook, then take the bread and run back to the grain desk.

Yours truly was invited to take part. I was in the middle of the times of the several participants. Third place was Rasberia, who got a time of 3:10 and a prize of 250L. Second place was Alba Horatia Taura (alba2685 Resident), whom was a few seconds faster at 3:06 and got 500L

First place at 2:53 went to the child avatar, Onica Kadora (BlazingWinter Resident), whom got the top prize of 1000L. "Thank you so much! Candy store here I come!" One Roman remarked, "KK (the sheriff) will need to build a bigger playroom for all the new toys." The child giggled, "WaaaHaHAhahAHA! AhhhhHAhahh! AHhahHAH! Haha!" After more chuckles, one centurion commented, "Now we can eat the bread" The prizes were provided by the Roma community's Consul.

In the evening was the Walpurgisnacht party. Before the event, I ran into the hosts of the party, Baron and Baronin Wulfenbach, in Caledon Kittiwickshire. They reminded me that this was a holiday celebrated in central Europe, on the night before May Day. Much like Halloween, people dressed in costume, especially of monsters and demons. It had once been believed that the boundary of the spirit realm and the realm of Earth was thinnest at that night and evil spirits might try to kidnap mortals, unless they were in disguise. This would be the ninth event of it's kind held on the grid.

The coordinates for the event also led to Caledon Kittiwickshire, the entrance resembling a portal. But stepping in ...

One would end up somewhere high above Europa Wulfenbach, or was it the spirit realm? There were all sorts of avatars of monsters and spirits, "Wow, some amazing costumes here!" The Baron stated, "I am delighted to see how many were able to join us here."

One girl was in a simple sheet, "Boo! I am a scary ghost! ... Shake in your shoes! I have come for your soul or alternatively your ice cream giift cards!" It got a few chuckles, "her ghost costume just cracks me up completely!" " ... so cute!" The music got some praise as well, "This song just reminded me of a German word... Schadenfreude"

It was difficult to truly stand out at this event, but one did with his "Satan's Mustang" look. There was also some blue fire. "It was first built for a Steelhead Walpurgisnacht," the Baron explained, "and it has traveled since."

The party got much praise, "Thank you your majesty and consort for opening the veil to allow us to celebrate this night again!" The Baron appreciated the complements,"Yes, it's impressive to have thrown such a successful event 9 years in a row!"

Before long it was time for yours truly to depart, and it would be another year until these events would happen again.

Bixyl Shuftan

Scenes from the Burnal Equinox

From Friday March 27 to late Sunday March 29, the art and music festival "Burnal Equinox" took place at the Burning Life-Deep Hole sim. This yearly event is a spinoff of the Burn2 festival taking place for over a week in October, run by the same people, often nicknamed "Burners."

At the site of the SURL and Landmark passed around, greeters welcomed visitors with a "Welcome home," offering a few freebies.

There were a few mutant vehicles to get around, such as this huge rubber ducky on wheels.

And these cutsie flying bunnies.

Or one could just ride a bike.

 There were a number of artists' exhibits at the event. 

 The theme of the event was "Balance," and the exhibits were supposed to represent it in some way.

 The base of the Burning Equinox Balance Tower, created by P1anoman Resident.

 

One can find a list of the names and exhibits at: http://www.burn2.org/BE2015-artistbuilds

There were also DJs performing music at the event, here at the dance floor.

At 10AM Saturday, Newser writer Grease Coakes was the DJ at the Burnal for an hour.

One might say his tunes were "hot."

 For the hour, he played for friends and others at the dance stage.

Everyone had fun, even if some just "horsed around."

Sunday evening had the final events of the Burnal. At 8PM came the Tower Burn, when the Balance Tower would be burned.

 There was some delay, but after some time,  the tower was set ablaze.

Someone stood on top ot the structure as it burned.

 Fireworks went off around the build as it slowly burned, rings of flame rising from the bottom.

 Soon it began to char as it burned to a crisp.

 Viewing the burning tower from below.

 Eventually, it burned to the point it collapsed into a pile of blocks.

 The Burners climbed onto the embers, lighting themselves with fire effects.

At 9PM, the Lamplighters led the closing event at the dance area.

 The Burners danced away, in avatars large ...

 ... and small.

Finally as the hour drew near, the lamplighters began marching in procession, away from the dance floor, the final act of the festival.

And so, the Burnal Equinox came to a close. But the fans took comfort that the main event, Burn2, would be just six months away.

Bixyl Shuftan