Firecrackers in Hawaii
Hawaii is sometimes called the "melting pot of the Pacific". There is no majority ethnicity in Hawaii and Hawaii's "culture" has evolved as a mix of cultures from around the world, including Hawaii's own indigenous culture. As a result, people of all races participate and celebrate different traditions from around the world. One such tradition is the blowing up of firecrackers on New Year's Eve. Hawaii people love fireworks! Actually, people bust firecrackers for New Year's Eve, Chinese New Years, and 4th of July, even if they don't have proper permits.
Anyways, my friend did have the proper permits and so he built a firecracker tower and tied it to his mailbox. Version 1 was too tall and unstable so we decided to shorten it by 3 feet. What you see here is the shorter version as the firecrackers begin blowing up.
As you can see, there is a lot of red firecracker paper all over the street. It took a team of 6 of us about 30 minutes to clean it up completely.
The best part of the firecracker chain is the end when a ball of densley packed firecrackers explode in such rapid succession that it sounds like one continuous tearing explosion.
I think the point of all of this is to scare away the bad demons and bring in good luck for the year. I am not exactly sure, but it sure was fun! Ahhh...culture!
