Hit by 3 Million Bottle Rockets

Hit By 3 Million Rockets In Taiwan

Taiwan | Friday, July 5, 2013 | 4 photos

Thousands of people are in the streets, few are on fire, most hopping up and down, and everyone else anxiously standing around, waiting. A rack of an uncountable amount of bottle rockets is brought out, all of them laid out horizontally and pointing in all directions. Smoke still clouds the sky from the previous shootings. I stand there, unable to move inside the crowd, afraid to let some fresh air into my helmet, fearing the rockets will start at any time. I hear a few noises in the distance, and then before I can take a second breath, the sky is orange, rockets are slamming into my helmet and my ears are ringing from explosions. A few rows ahead of me, people start hopping. The ground suddenly turns scorching hot. I glance around amongst the rockets flying past my head and my friend, who is almost half my height, using me as a human shield. There are hundreds of people, all wearing helmets with visors, all hopping up and down with only one thought in mind, don't get burned.

Excitement mixes with nerves, creating a powerful feeling that I know is shared with the locals pressing against me. I am blended in the crowd, feeling completely in-tune with the crazy, loud, and dangerous southern Taiwanese culture. The feeling fades as the rockets do, and I join the crowd walking to the next rack, wanting another taste of not only the rockets, but to huddle up against the hundreds of faceless locals around me and do our let's-not-burn dance together.

This is the Yanshui Beehive Rockets Festival, a festival in a small southern town in Taiwan, where over 3 million bottle rockets are shot directly at crowds over the course of a hot, bright night. I often think back to this festival and wonder, did this really happen? How could something like this happen? It's easy for such a bizarre experience to be swept away amongst the day to day events of a normal life. Though it is easy to remember this festival, since it's held every single year, towards the end of the Chinese New Year.