DOCUMENTARY

BLAZE Nevada’s Burning Man festival BBC2, 9pm

Humans are such strange beings. If aliens are looking down at us, they must wonder why we come together for ceremonies in vast numbers to perform seemingly bizarre rituals.

But whether it’s staying silent for two minutes on Remembrance Sunday, cheering in a crowd or singing the National Anthem, these powerful experiences bring communities together.

The second episode of this fascinating series focuses on great gatherings, with amazing footage from across the globe. In the mountains of Japan, 2,000 men create a waterfall of fire in a ritual of spiritual renewal.

In Nevada, 70,000 unite to build a city in the desert at the Burning Man festival at which a temple is set ablaze.

At a mass pilgrimage in Malaysia, one devotee is pierced through his cheeks and carries a heavy load to a shrine in a cave.

In Mexico, men strap explosives to sledgehammers in a dangerous event in memory of a battle.

And there’s war on horseback between villages on an Indonesian island. Expect bloodshed. GRIPPING James Nesbitt