Friday, January 1, 2010
9:26 AM | Posted by
Unknown
I have been in this place for so many years I forget how different a New Year's Eve celebration is here. The weather is normal, clear sky, followed by periods of intense rain, clear sky, then drizzles. but that does not slow the celebration one bit. Everyone just takes the party in under the easy corner (a very large pole and canopy setup that people use for camping and dining outside here) until it clears up then they move back out onto the streets to hit the fireworks again.
Because of the many Asians who live here, and the fact that most people by this time have some Asian in their blood somewhere, Chinese firecrackers are very popular. Chinese firecrackers are about 12 foot long strings of firecrackers that are strung from a tall frame or a tree limb. They are all in red, the color of celebration in China, and have two or three boxes of mini explosives at the top of the string. The neighbors across the street had five strings going off at once last night. I think they had two or three sets of them they set off in succession.
The locals don't just set off firecrackers. Those who buy the packages of fireworks in the grocery store are rookies. I don't know if the people who shoot off fireworks in the neighborhoods actually buy the requisite licenses each year or if they just smuggle in the fireworks, but each year as we stand in our street we can count at least seven aerial displays going off at the same time. The noise is positively deafening! While five neighbors are setting off firecrackers, fountains, flowers, smoke bombs, etc. the other neighbors are alternating between professional aerial displays and the same assortment of ground fireworks their poorer neighbors are enjoying.
I never seem to lose the sense of wonder as we stand, hand in hand in the middle of the street and crane our necks skyward to see as many of the displays as we can, all happening at once. Last night was a full moon, with a huge halo of yellow and orange around it because of the water vapor in the air. When the clouds parted the moon was like a giant floodlight on the landscape. You could almost read a book by its light. As we stood there watching in the distance the enormous mums exploding on the horizon, suddenly we heard the muted "pumph!" of some aerial fireworks right close by. We looked straight up into the air as we saw the shooting stars rocket upwards. Like exploding planets on a science fiction movie, rings of color and light, sparks and comets shot in all directions. As we stood there in awe watching wave after wave burst in the air directly over our heads from two different houses, we started to feel the cinders and ash raining down on us. But that only heightened the excitement of the event, knowing that we were so close to these marvels.
We live up on a hill, directly next to the Ko'olau mountains, almost vertical faces that rise hundreds of feet above the ocean level. With every burst the reverberation off the mountains doubled the sound. Smoke filled the air making the entire subdivision look more like a battle zone than the quiet neighborhood it masquerades as the rest of the year. The fireworks actually started the day before New Year's Eve. The booms and crackling were sparse, but expected throughout the day and night. For the actual eve there is always a stony silence in the afternoon that belies the bedlam that is to follow once darkness falls.
Once it was thoroughly dark the neighborhood came alive. Sound systems blared into existence at full volume, and didn't quiet down until well after midnight. Laughter and shouts could be heard from all directions. Whoops and hollers, and warnings not to get burned or to get out of the way of that car were as frequent as the call of a bird in the country on a calm summer's day. The streets were filled with people, many of them setting off their own fireworks, and others, like us, just wandering from one beautiful display to another with our mouths unabashedly open at the spectacle and wishing each other a happy new year.
Despite the noise and confusion of the revelers each year, when sleep comes at last it is welcome, deep and full of repeats of the night's performances. Waking on New Year's day is sweet and quiet. Most refreshing.
Because of the many Asians who live here, and the fact that most people by this time have some Asian in their blood somewhere, Chinese firecrackers are very popular. Chinese firecrackers are about 12 foot long strings of firecrackers that are strung from a tall frame or a tree limb. They are all in red, the color of celebration in China, and have two or three boxes of mini explosives at the top of the string. The neighbors across the street had five strings going off at once last night. I think they had two or three sets of them they set off in succession.
The locals don't just set off firecrackers. Those who buy the packages of fireworks in the grocery store are rookies. I don't know if the people who shoot off fireworks in the neighborhoods actually buy the requisite licenses each year or if they just smuggle in the fireworks, but each year as we stand in our street we can count at least seven aerial displays going off at the same time. The noise is positively deafening! While five neighbors are setting off firecrackers, fountains, flowers, smoke bombs, etc. the other neighbors are alternating between professional aerial displays and the same assortment of ground fireworks their poorer neighbors are enjoying.
I never seem to lose the sense of wonder as we stand, hand in hand in the middle of the street and crane our necks skyward to see as many of the displays as we can, all happening at once. Last night was a full moon, with a huge halo of yellow and orange around it because of the water vapor in the air. When the clouds parted the moon was like a giant floodlight on the landscape. You could almost read a book by its light. As we stood there watching in the distance the enormous mums exploding on the horizon, suddenly we heard the muted "pumph!" of some aerial fireworks right close by. We looked straight up into the air as we saw the shooting stars rocket upwards. Like exploding planets on a science fiction movie, rings of color and light, sparks and comets shot in all directions. As we stood there in awe watching wave after wave burst in the air directly over our heads from two different houses, we started to feel the cinders and ash raining down on us. But that only heightened the excitement of the event, knowing that we were so close to these marvels.
We live up on a hill, directly next to the Ko'olau mountains, almost vertical faces that rise hundreds of feet above the ocean level. With every burst the reverberation off the mountains doubled the sound. Smoke filled the air making the entire subdivision look more like a battle zone than the quiet neighborhood it masquerades as the rest of the year. The fireworks actually started the day before New Year's Eve. The booms and crackling were sparse, but expected throughout the day and night. For the actual eve there is always a stony silence in the afternoon that belies the bedlam that is to follow once darkness falls.
Once it was thoroughly dark the neighborhood came alive. Sound systems blared into existence at full volume, and didn't quiet down until well after midnight. Laughter and shouts could be heard from all directions. Whoops and hollers, and warnings not to get burned or to get out of the way of that car were as frequent as the call of a bird in the country on a calm summer's day. The streets were filled with people, many of them setting off their own fireworks, and others, like us, just wandering from one beautiful display to another with our mouths unabashedly open at the spectacle and wishing each other a happy new year.
Despite the noise and confusion of the revelers each year, when sleep comes at last it is welcome, deep and full of repeats of the night's performances. Waking on New Year's day is sweet and quiet. Most refreshing.
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