Conscious Man — Festiwal Świadomego Mężczyzny

A five-day men’s festival at Przyłęk, in Paradyż municipality in central Poland, run as a workshop-and-process gathering rather than a concert: the organisers say outright it is not a music festival.

The programme mixes talks, skills workshops, wood and body work, sauna and cold-water zones, and ceremonies: sweat lodges that start at 4 a.m., trance dance, a Maori haka and a ceremonial fire kept burning throughout. Alcohol and all other intoxicants are banned and, the organisers warn, strictly enforced (tobacco is excepted). Camping is included, food is not, and boys aged 12 to 18 can come with an adult to a strand of their own.

Men meeting without armour: nobody stands above or below anyone, and the circle has room for the hard as well as the beautiful.

• Ceremony
• Sauna & bathing
• Talks & workshops