Y is for Year

We are a few days into 2012 and this post is a brief peek into how Filipinos celebrate the arrival of the New Year. Two words might suffice, really: deafening and dangerous.

Firecrackers, fireworks and other noisemakers are key to bringing the new year in with a bang. For days before the midnight transition from old year to new and for a day or two after still, the eardrum bursting sounds of snap, crackle, pop, whizz, fizz and BANG! permeate the air, along with lung-busting (and airplane diverting) smoke.

A traditional belief I suspect was adopted from the Chinese holds that the cacophony drives off evil spirits, thereby ensuring a bountiful and blessed new year.

Despite legally banning the larger explosives and annual attempts to forewarn the public of the dangers of fireworks through information campaigns, each year many hundreds of casualties and a few deaths are reported throughout the nation. Many would like to see a total ban on all fireworks, but there is still a massive resistance again such a move.

My photos were taken last week in Dumaguete, where vendors in makeshift stalls along the street saw a brisk business for their fiery wares.

Dumaguete, 2011

I am linking to ABC Wednesday where the letter is Y and to Signs, Signs.