St. Patricio's Day Revisited

With the minus 20 degree weather at home settling in and a quick trip to Barra only a couple weeks away that means I have began to scroll through my pictures pining for Mexico.  Forgotten on my laptop was a bunch of video we took at last year's St. Patrick's Day fireworks in Melaque.  You can read my previous post St. Patrick's Day Mexican Style to find out more about the Mexican fascination for St. Patrick's day.  Since it had been a few years since our vacations have lined up with St. Patrick's day we were anxious to see if the craziness we experienced in 2011 was an aberration or the norm.  Suffice it to say low regulation high audience interaction firework displays appear to be the norm and are AWESOME! just not necessarily in "good way".

Preparations

As the crowd gathers for the evenings festivities the final touches are put on the giant tower of fire that will be the center piece of the evening.  As the evening progresses sections of the tower are lit spinning wheels spit sparks and flares on and into the crowd.  With that in mind check out the dinner tables that are positioned right beside the tower. This is not exactly a CSA approved event.

Anticipation

The crowd begins to swell as a start time is more of a suggestion than a target in Mexico.

Musical Interlude

As we wait random bands keep sweeping through the square each trying to drown out the last.  Some are accompanied by advertising, others by kids throwing firecrackers into the crowd and the really good ones by a couple of guys pouring a tasty pink drink from a 5 gallon water jug.

Light R Up

Finally, the time has come to get this party started.  I love the kids running into the sparks and picking up flares to throw into the crowd.

Fire in Sky

Once things get going it is really an impressive display.  This is a short clip but at the height of the display it went on like this for a good 20 or 30 minutes.  

Grand Finale

The culminating moment of the evening is the firing up of a wooden projectile that spells out "FINI" in flames and crashes back to earth.  In 2011, it lit a tree on fire and this year it took out a spectator.  It seems to be a source of pride to be able to be as close to it as possible as it lands. 

Like I said AWESOME but not necessarily good, a lot like Habanero sauce

VIVA MEXICO!

Here is all of the clips put together as one clip.