In the spirit of the New Year, here are some alternative ways to welcome the New Year without resorting to fireworks. The problem with fireworks in the New Year is that the amount being exploded is so excessive that it leaves a cloud of burnt gunpowder residue over the city contributing greatly to air pollution.
Of course I never understood why we have to use fireworks to welcome the New Year. The practice is taken from the Chinese custom that it scares away the demons, evil spirits and bad luck. That I can accept, but the reality is Chinese New Year isn’t till February, so go figure? So can’t we just admit that we just really love making things go boom and watching fireworks display?
Of course the pundits say, that like the practice of Christmas gift giving being invented by the manufacturer’s to increase sales in December, so was the practice of exploding fireworks on the New Year being invented by the fireworks makers to increase their sales as well. Or is it to justify their existence?
Alas I digress. So hear are the alternative ways to welcome the new year.
- Blow your horn - Buy a Philippine “Torotot” (horn) and help support the local industry. The torotot is made out of cardboard and colorful materials. Some even have colorful feathers on them.
- Toot your horn - if you have a car, here’s a good excuse to lay one long one on your horn.
- Bang something - Get a cooking pot, a large can or basically something that is metal and cylindrical in shape and something hard to bang against it.
- Turn it up - Turn up the volume of your radio or tv. Just make sure that what your playing isn’t obscene. Don’t go to overboard about it though as prolonged playing of your entertainment systems in a maxed out volume could also damage your speakers.
- Pop it - blow up some rubber balloons with air and here’s your chance to have fun popping them.
- Exploding News - although its not explosive, depending on it’s impact, you could see some wailing from the recipient. Like what happened to a friend of mine, when on the day before New Year’s Eve his Dad brought home his mistress and their 4 year old son. This, plus the fact that their mother had been dead for only 4 months, had quite a profound impact on them.
