LAWRENCE — That counter-cultural orgy of weirdness – the Burning Man Festival – will be the focus of the annual Religious Studies Lecture at the University of Kansas. California State University-Chico professor of religious studies Sarah Ppike’s talk is called “Conversations With the Dead: Mourning Rites at the Burning Man Festival,” and will be April 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the Kansas Room in the Kansas Union. The Burning Man Festival happens each Labor Day weekend in the middle of the desert near Reno, Nev. When it first started, it was a collection of ex-hippies and oddballs but now attracts tens of thousands of people doing what can be politely described as countercultural activities and elaborate art projects. Central to the festival is the building of a large wooden man who is ceremoniously burned at the climax of the event. Pike is a national expert and author on new age and neo-pagan religions in America. She’s now writing a book on adolescents and religion in the United States.
Thursday, April 8, 1 p.m.
