They said they were going to burn a temple on the Mall, and they did.

A group of activists came together and built a camp, just northwest of the Washington Monument, that played host over the weekend to a geodesic dome, a liberty pole, a car-shaped DJ booth, fire spinners, a fair amount of shaggy coats, and the occasional whiff of marijuana. And then there was the elaborate, hand-built temple—which its creator set ablaze at the stroke of midnight in protest of the war on drugs.

Catharsis on the Mall: A Vigil for Healing the Drug War drew a couple hundred people on a cold November night to the grounds of the National Mall—not too far from the semi-permanent tent where a Christian group is singing 10,000 hours of worship music over the course of more than a year (who knew?).

The burning of the ‘Temple of Essence’ was the highlight of 48 hours of events, which also included talks, yoga, and open mics. The all-white structure stood for two days, and the public was invited to write messages in chalk and bring in their booking documents and other papers. Then the organizers erected a twenty-foot barrier around the temple.

After a series of fire performers circled the structure, the artist himself set it on fire. And as Michael Verdon promised, as the fire burned, a jail cell appeared from the midst of the flames. Then the whole thing collapsed in on itself.

“There is something very powerful about ending in the glow of the fire with a thousand other people that often can act as a catalyst for people to let things go,” Verdon said.

Filed Under: burning man, catharsis, catharsis on the mall, drug policy, marijuana, marijuana legalization, national mall, national park service, pot, protests,