Participants are expected to bring everything they need to survive for a week in the harsh environment, plus talents to share with others. As several things. I would call it a celebration of Mardi Gras-like intensity. I think for some it is a ritual with great spiritual value. I would call it a utopian alternative to the world we normally live in.
People think it's a hippie orgy or a cult.
I suppose it is a counterculture. It is certainly an alternative model that shows people, in a really practical way, that there are other ways of living. People think it's a hippie orgy or a cult. When they get out there, they discover what is of unique value to them. We've come to regard them as a kind of concrete analog of what are called Web sites on the Internet.