The Camp Guide
Camp Yggdrasil
Shade, story, and a circle under the tree
The Borderland · Sweden · 27 July – 1 August 2027
You joined the family. Your noble heart and your curiosity were noticed, and we are grateful to have you with us.
From here on, we are counting on you to help us nurture Yggdrasil together, which also means adding to the magic of the whole Borderland. Whether you are a brand new burner or one of the oldest souls living in the branches of the tree, this guide is yours. Read it slowly. It holds the story of who we are, the spirit we carry, and the simple, practical ways we build this home side by side.
There is no spectator seat here. The camp is made by the people who show up for it, and that now includes you.
Yggdrasil is the tree of life, sprung from the earth and watered by the sky. Its crown spreads out over us, making shelter and space. Underneath it we gather as a tribe, as vikings, nymphs, elves, trolls, norns, amazons, humans, or however you choose to express your true essence during our ceremonies and theme nights.
We are a camp built on connection, togetherness, and co-creation. We care about experiences and the quiet mysteries of life. We are trying to make a place you can call home in the forests, meadows and lakes of Sweden, one that keeps welcoming you back after your adventures, co-created with other dedicated souls pushing toward a common goal.
Our mission is to reconnect with mother nature in the form of the tree of life, to light up our surroundings with care, and to bring more awareness to the earth and our need to look after it. Nature holds us with a mother's patience. The least we can do is remember that, and build in a way that gives back.
You are someone who shares these values, who wants to help raise this home and take it down again when the time comes, who has a vision for good vibes and for holding space for others. If that is you, then you are already one of us.
In Norse cosmology, Yggdrasil is an immense and ancient tree that connects the nine worlds. It stands at the centre of the cosmos, a symbol of interconnectedness, its branches and roots reaching through the whole universe. In some tellings it is the source of all life itself. An evergreen ash, deeply holy, where the gods meet each day to hold their council.
Three great roots support the tree. One reaches the well of Mímir, a source of knowledge and wisdom. One reaches the spring of Hvergelmir. One reaches down to the great dragon Nidhogg. The branches rise into Asgard, Midgard, and Jotunheim, and the tree gives home to many creatures, among them four stags, two eagles, a squirrel, and the three Norns, Urd, Verdandi, and Skuld, past, present, and future, who shape the fate of all living things.
This is the tree we carry. When we build Yggdrasil at the Borderland, we are planting that story in the meadow, a centre for the nine kinds of people who find their way to it.
A burn is an event created by its own community, the artists, makers, and organizers, which now means you. It is guided by a shared set of principles and happens all over the world. The first burn was Burning Man, on Baker Beach in San Francisco in 1986. The Borderland is the Nordic regional burn, held each summer in the Swedish countryside, and it is our home ground.
A burn runs on participation, not consumption. Nothing is for sale inside the gates. What makes it come alive is what people bring, build, and give.
At the Borderland we hold one more close to the heart: Consent. Ask first, listen always. It is the ground everything else stands on.
You don't have to do everything at once. Start here, and the rest will follow.
Record a short video telling us your name or playa name, where you're from, why you joined, and what you hope to bring. It's how we start to know each other.
WhatsApp is our main channel for everyday camp life, so hop in and share your intro video there so everyone can meet you. We also keep a Discord as a backup space. Say hi, this is where it all happens between burns.
Pick something you want to help create, and sign up for a role. Every hand shapes the camp, and there's a place that will fit you.
The camp portal at borderland.yggdrasil.camp is your home base: announcements, travel plans, shifts, the camp guide, and the whole roster. Anything official lands there first. Your invite link gets you in.
A camp this size runs because people take ownership of a piece of it. Most roles have a lead and a co-lead, so no one carries it alone, and one person holds at most one role. Here is the shape of the work. Read it, feel where you're drawn, and raise your hand.
Manage the camp's placement with the Borderland team and lead the build when the structures go up. It starts early, so stay close to the meetings.
Everything has to end so it can begin again. Strike plans the careful take-down, so camp is tidied and stored right for next year.
Coordinate how the camp's gear gets to site and back, by renting, borrowing, and crowdsourcing transport. Our tipi and kitchen live in Alversjö storage.
And there was light. Calculate the power budget for kitchen, tipi, art and members, and submit it to the Borderland team in good time.
The treasurer's seat. Hold the overall budget, dream, inventory, food and decor, and follow up on camp fees. For those at home with numbers.
Keep track of what we own and what we need, from kitchen to tipi to chill tent, and make sure it's ready when build begins.
Chef's hat. Plan a week of dinners for the whole camp, mind everyone's dietary needs, and keep hungry Yggdrasilians happy.
Run the station that keeps our footprint minimal, organize sorting and cleaning, and set LNT shifts with the camp.
Build a safety plan for build, camp and strike, covering fire and first aid, and keep the right gear in the right place.
Hold this year's camp dreams, talk through the budgets they need, and keep the story of Yggdrasil alive and shared.
Create the opening and closing ceremonies, welcome the burn virgins, hold the tipi space, and shape the feeling of camp.
Schedule the workshops and gatherings in the tipi, and help fellow burners share what they know and love.
Build begins about a week before the burn. The structures go up, every role starts to interlock, and the camp slowly becomes itself. Strike begins on the Sunday morning after the closing ceremony. Leaders split the work into teams so everyone has a task, and we leave no trace, often with a MOOP walk and a song while we comb the ground for anything left behind. Every Yggdrasilian joins either build or strike. It isn't a chore we hand off. It's how a pile of gear becomes a home, and how we hand the land back better than we found it.
Now that you've taken the time to learn, that you've answered the call of the tree of life, and that your heart is filling with a new family that feels like yours, there's only one thing left. Go.
Explore. Discover the creativity of your neighbours. Write your own path through the fields and the woods. Express yourself, or hide in a quiet corner and simply contemplate. Connect with the beautiful souls around you. Give something away. Receive something freely. This is the part no guide can write for you, and it's the reason we build everything else.
Yggdrasil started here in the Nordic forests, and it keeps reaching further. We want the tree to mean something beyond the week: nature and art, awareness of the living world, and leaving a real mark in the right direction, planting trees beyond the playa and building with more care each year.
Each year we carry forward what we learned: clearer roles, a warmer kitchen, a cosier fire in the tipi, better care for one another. The tree grows ring by ring, and so do we.
Everything you need to stay in the loop and get ready lives here. The member hub is where your season comes together once you're in.