Imagine several thousand people. Many of the laden down with explosives. Setting them off all around you. Fireworks blasting up into the sky, popping on the ground. Some of them failing to launch and blowing up within feet of bystanders, children included. People launching them at, or at least towards each other. Towards cars, buildings, trees, anything conveniently in the way of the blast. Sparks everywhere. Smoke thick enough to be a decent civil war reenactment scene.
The noise, the lights, the smell of gunpowder thick in the air. It was really something incredible. And then, midnight hit. People seriously started in then. Hundreds of fireworks being launched, and they kept on launching them. It really started about 30 minutes before midnight, and carried on long afterwards.
The effect was invigorating and mind boggling. I have never seen such a display before. I have watched fireworks from the safe, controlled distance of the edge of a park or across a river. Somewhere where everything is well controlled, and the city does a good job of making a good display. But here, unbound by the conventions of safety and propriety, citizens, launching explosive projectiles off in uncontrolled bursts. No oversight, no city budget constraints. Debris falling around you, smoke in the air. Noise like a battlefield. Every corner of the city lit up.
I think it's something that needs to be experienced.
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