Marking the dawn of the Anthropocene, every 16 July
On 16 July 1945, the Trinity test detonated the first nuclear weapon in the New Mexico desert — the moment many scientists mark as the true beginning of the Anthropocene, the age in which human choices began to rival natural forces in shaping the planet.
Each year, Vitans gather to commemorate that turning point with fire, ceremony, and Eco-pyrotechnics — including the ritual detonation of "the Gadget" and "Trinibomtess," homemade tributes to the original device — followed by fire games, flaming arrows, and a night around the bonfire with the community.
Below is the archive: every Earth New Year since 2017, in the words of those who lit the fuse.
Help fund next year's gathering and the wider Vita Sapien mission.
Vita Sapien Membership →"The solidified CO2 is sublimating into a gas inside and building up pressure inside the P.E.T.E. soft drink bottle... Such that when the pressure builds up enough it will—" Muggins forgot to put the lamp behind the Gadget, so when the Gadget did its thing we got the noise, but not the bright white flash.
Back to Freddy. This time, Andrew leads proceedings because Guy's hand was bandaged after elective surgery. We got the Abyssal Man primed with many complaints and then set him alight with flaming arrows. Sort of. Then an awesome ceremony shooting arrows into the fire bowl. How do we know it was awesome? It went on for 40 minutes! People just kept coming back.
Freddy! Awesome venue. Great host. Just lots of traffic noise.
Orleigh Park, West End, Brisbane. Sharing the acoustic love with the neighbours protected by the resolute Moreton Bay Fig.
This time, Earth New Year was held in the infamous 122 Waverley, a steaming hotbed of rebellious activity. Greg was nonplussed and referred to the event as when we "blew up a rubbish bin." Vita Sapien takes all types. Granted, the Gadget was placed on top of a pedal bin that suffered terribly.
Back at Floyd Town but this time no hippies to augment the Vitans, just a German guy. Trinibomtess was less a replica of a 21 kt fission device and more a defective home brew. Fun, but.
This time we located Earth New Year at a hippy commune called Floyd Town adjacent to North Lakes in Brisbane and—guess what?—the hippies joined in! This was the second year with Abyssalman and we whacked the hell out of it with light sabres. Plus, we did Eco-pyrate-technics. Fire games. Including F-111. This was the best Earth New Year ever. Still trying to recapture the magic. It needs people. Lots of people.
Second year at Kupidarbon Wilderness. The Trinimbomtess was more sophisticated. We are talking dry ice constrained by a PET bottle submerged in a bucket of water. The GADGET was supposed to magnetically grip the bottom of the steel bucket, but the operator failed to make the connection. We got the bang but not so much flash! We did Eco-pyrate-technics and Guy Lane had an incident doing Bolide in which he fractured his clavicle. True story. David broke a chair and we even scared some neighbouring deer. Apparently.
Venue Kupidarbin, Mount Sampson, Brisbane. An early experiment in commemorating the Alamogordo Bomb Test as the beginning of the Anthropocene. The Trinibomtess was matchheads in a tin can on a campfire.