Every year about this time, the good people of Tultepec (about an hour north of Mexico City) stage the wildest and craziest fireworks event literally on the planet Earth.
Click here: TultepecFireworks
A whole buncha my pyro pals from the Florida Club are down there as I write this. And I am NOT.
I HATE when that happens!
Enjoy the video. And tell me what you think of it.
Harry
thanks for the video , it won”t work in the usa because of the safety restrictions and accidents involved in the industry. government restrictions and anti fireworks lobbyists would eat it alive. it is pretty from a distance and definately an attraction for adventural youngsters , however the usa is not the place libility insurance woul be grievious,
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Hey Harry!
I do business in Tultepec, and on occasion have done the Bull Run. It is my experience that you want to get as close as possible to the bull, as the drivers are slow to develop complete thrust and velocity. Great fun. But not for the US.
Tultepec as you know is an economy based on fireworks. Every so often there are accidents, and sometimes people die. This sad fact does not seem to deter people from continuing to make fireworks, support their families and employ thousands. It almost seems like they are willing to pay the ultimate price.
The bulls in a way a emblematic to a dangerous industry, inducing an adrenalin rush in a community that is accustomed to big bangs.
Nice subject. Cheers.
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Harry,
I was there. The first time I saw it I thought ‘insane’. That’s the only way to describe it ‘insane’. There are a lot more people in the town square than can be seen in this video. The stick-less rockets (busca pieses – feet seekers) flying at the people are about the size of a large adult finger, maybe a little wider. If you are not so close and don’t get hit by too many at once you can just brush them off. I have clothing with black scorch marks from these sparking tubes. I purposely keep my distance from these toritos (paper mache bulls). You have to respect the fireworks or you will get burned. Most of the excitement, the scampering and jumping people, hoping not to get hit too badly, occurred away from me. But on occasion the action was a little too close for my comfort as the crowd came running towards me, pushing, to get away from the flying, crackling, tubes of sparks. This year I noticed some of the large toritos also had small multi-shot cakes, roman candles, comet tubes, and other fireworks, like flaming, spinning wheels (coronas) mounted and firing from their backs into the sky. I really feared one of these toritos tipping over and some serious firework projectiles going into the crowd. But that didn’t happen and the handlers always struggled to upright any toritos that fell over. No. Not in the USA. The moment some one gets burned – Lawsuit! And that would be the end of that. This is what happens during the Night of A Thousand Toritos. Starting just after sundown and lasting well past midnight, maybe as late as 3:00 am. The toritos just keep coming one right after another. During the afternoon there is a parade or procession of these toritos through the town to the town square. There is a lot of pride in the construction of each of these toritos and each tends to have a theme or allude to some other socially identifying characteristic, like a super hero or cartoon character. The small, single person carried, toritos are probably built by a single person but the larger four to eight person handled toritos are most likely a group effort, sponsored by a local church, club, or barrio. The parade is very festive, some of the toritos are accompanied by a small band or chanting chorus of boosters. The daytime parade and the nighttime charging of the Bulls is definitely a highpoint to this festival. The toritos that survive the night are most likely recycled for next year but many do not survive, they go up in smoke or get burned beyond recognition. Oh, also throughout the day and night there are salute rockets and shells being fired at random throughout town. For the first time I actually shot some salute rockets, from my bare hand. Insane. I understand this is the one place in Mexico where there are no rules governing fireworks or at least that’s what I heard.
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I like the video even though it’s nothing I want to be in the middle of. As for the legallity part if your an adult you should have the right to take your own risks without an oversized government saying you don’t have the right to. We all take risks in life regardless of rather it’s driving to work or playing with fireworks. Myself I make and hand lite a dozen or more 6″ shells along with several 3″, 4″, and 5″ shells every 4th. Not the safest thing to be doing, but this is a risk I’m willing to take, just like the guys in the video are willing to take their risk with that. I don’t see them making that celebration in Mexico illigal anytime soon. They have bigger problems. Now here in the USA the government is doing everything possable to stop all fireworks. While I put alot of blame on a government wanting to control everything, alot of blame can be place on common people. Now days someone gets a scratch they want to sue, or whine to the government saying why didn’t you protect me. Wimps, idiots, and big government seem to go together and ruin things for everyone else. There seems to be an over abundance of them right now. Just my take on this.
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I am unrestricted Pro pyro with unrestricted pyro theatrical endorsement, living/licensed in Perth Western Australia. This so-called “insane & dangerous” Mexican Tultepec pyro-fun, is very important footage that the whole World should see, enjoy and chat about (in perspective). Public Liability insurance companies should see it also, perhaps then they will understand that consensual folks can, in a controlled environment, be deliberately “insane & dangerous” doing close proximity theatrical performance pyro fun without killing/seriously maiming NON-consensual people/creatures/property. All is needed are some simple basic safety protocols: don’t do it in high winds with risk of embers creating bushfire; don’t do it within 200 meters of a fuel depot and have fire tenders on standby to hose the crowd down with water canons. Also never have anything on the burning bull that could become shrapnel.
There are thousands of things we humans do for fun, art or sport that carry a risk of death/injury and no one blinks an eye, but introduce unorthodox pyro fun, and, suddenly, it seems, we become very bad people.
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I can totally understand being a proud resident of your country and enjoying your right to participate in such a joyous time of the year because I do it every year on the 4th Of July.. But I can tell you this…Watching this video tells me one thing and that is that this festival will continue as it has for how ever long it has been going until someone gets killed… I’ve been into Fireworks,big and small,for as long as I can remember and I was always taught to have the HIGHEST respect for them because they are EXTREMELY dangerous..They dont just write those little safety features on each and every one of them for the heck of it. These words actually mean something. Once more, I’m not the bad guy party pooper type by far. Fireworks to me is an art and watching this video, I’m not seeing anything artistic at all.What I do see is quite a few unknowing young adults running about in circles just waiting for one of those small jets to find someones eye and there is really nothing cool or ballsy about that.. To actually know that there is a company behind all this that condones such an event sickens me even more. If the only thing that has happened so far is just a few burn victims here and there let me tell you,they got off easy because something bad will happen its only a matter of time.Fireworks are meant to be handled one way !! By someone who knows what they are doing.And are to be watched from a safe distance.I had a very good friend of mine lose his life from sticking his head over a pipe by accident and out comes the 6inch shell that snapped his neck like a twig.. He was a pro too..Maybe some of these guys need to see something like that and it will change their minds about doing their little Firework Bull Dance..Boys and girls,whatever you do….. DON’T TRY THAT AT HOME
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Harry Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:10 PM
David,
FYI, there is no single company staging the events in Tultepec every year. There are many Mexican companies involved, and it is sanctioned by the local government there.
Harry
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While I was watching the video I was thinking it would make a good argument against universal health care. I saw several people with dust masks over their mouths but no eye protection at all.
Sure would be fun to participate, but I would want a full face mask and a helmet.
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Thanks Harry for this info. I had no idea that there was anybody that liked weird pyro excitement as much as I do.
The reason that the US government & State governments mostly ban pyro stuff is because some people might get wounded or killed by using them improperly.
Being from Missouri in the early ’60′s, I saw some people get blowed up using, legal at that time, M-80′s. So don’t hold them in your hand so long.
Are most people Sooo stupid that they need the Gov to make whatever might hurt them illegal. They tried that with booze.
I am sure the people that participated in that celebration in Mexico KNEW that some of the items flying around might hurt if hit by them.
I say, don some minimum amount of protective gear and stand in the center of the show.
Go For It!!!!
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Greetings!
What a HOOT! I had a Latino family across the street that would do mini versions of this; nothing but the sounds of the pyrotechnics, screaming, and hysterical laughter. Here, in California, and less than a block from the greatest little fire station on the West Coast!
I’m so sick of this Govt. “looking out” for my well-being, that I would rather that a large parking lot be reserved for these folks, and anyone else, AT THEIR OWN RISK, to have a celebration!
What the Hell happened to Freedom?!?
Be Well, All!
M.T.M.
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I enjoy setting off fireworks and I enjoy doing dumb things with them, but I wouldn’t want to walk into that mayhem without having been there a few times, watched it, and learned the rules. Way too easy to hurt somebody else (or yourself) by not knowing what you’re doing.
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Harry Reply:
March 12th, 2010 at 3:13 PM
Martin,
I’m told that walking out in front of the “bulls” in Tultepec … it isn’t a question of IF you will get hit. It’s only a question of where and how badly.
Harry
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Idoits!!!!! Oh well, when in Rome…..Just don’t bring that style of celebration to the US, the opposition will try to use the casualty rate from the event as fuel for laws to ban. Reality check: If some community group gets it legalized in one of the states or counties, then there should be a clause that all injuries (since they are pretty much “voluntary due to stupidity”) resulting from participation should be exempt and cannot be counted as official fireworks injury statistics. This would be the only way for the responsible use community to not get lumped in with them and shut down. The way things have been going in the past 20 years, it is in my opinion very likely that a state or county level jurisdiction somewhere will fold and allow these events to happen. Just goes to show, there are no lifeguards in the Gene Pool.
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Who cares if its dangerous? It looks like so much FUN!
I’m so tired of “safety this” and “political correctness that”, its refreshing to see people enjoying such unadulterated fun.
A person needs a little danger in their art.!
Viva la Tultepec!
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Eet’s a cultural theen man, part of our heritage. We are Proud main! Doan you no nutheeng?
To me, it should be not only LEGAL, but encouraged. It’s part of the whole process of natural selection/survival of the fittest thing. There’s plenty more Mexicans to replace those that don’t make it. We got millions of ‘em in Tejas and can ship you some if you want some yard work done or a new roof.
Don’t worry, they’re coming across our border in droves & we’ll fix ‘em up with all the healthcare we gratiously provide. But stock in hearing aid companies, Obama will be buying them for all these idiots.
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no this kind of thing should NOT be legal. it’s a public massacre waiting to happen
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Tultepec…..love it. Orders of magnitude beyond my 50′s youth of the (then) incredible madness of running around a flaming “brick” of flashcrackers (oh, the extravagance!)
Agree with “Randy”…should be mandatory, especially here in the “save you from yourself” nanny state of the Peoples’ Socialist Republic of California !!!!
DocBob
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This should be very illegal in the USA.
It’s highly dangerous to use fireworks in this way, and threatens bodily harm and should be banned!
No Fire Marshall in the USA would issue a permit for this kind of show.
WAY TOO DANGEROUS !!!!!!!!
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Greg Sanderson Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 12:10 AM
If its too dangerous for you, stay back in the stands or better yet..stay home.
You said it, no fire marshall in the USA Would issue a permit for this kind of show….Makes me ashamed of my country for some things.
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Can’t fix stupid.
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Should it be legal, you ask? Hell, Harry, it should be mandatory! But, think of the clean up! Cows would die, for sure!
Say, when they do, and we pay for them, do we get to BBQ them? Just asking…
CJ’s n00bie
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Oh to be young, and drunk on tequila once again! As an American this activity looks insane, yet once you leave our borders you will find most country’s expect people to behave with rational forethought. Should you do something dumb, and as a result get hurt – it’s your own fault! You can’t sue someone because you are stupid! So in Spain you can run with the bulls, and apparently in Mexico you can burn with them as well. I found it fascinating, breathtaking, and curious. I would love to see it for my self – from a safe distance of course – and possibly make a display of my own, but to stand next to one going off? There is not enough booze on the planet to make that sound like a good idea! To me it looks like a runaway display, or even a fireworks stand on fire! LOL! Here in the U.S. a disaster to be commented on the 6:00 News, but in Mexico it’s a Celebration! I for one must applaud the brevity (or is it poor judgment?) of the participants. Viva la Tultepec! Now get out there and light something! Blessings be,
Louis
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Those Mexicans sure know how to party. This “unsafe pyro” celebration should never be banned because it is a profoundly important cultural/spiritual thang for these good folks. HOWEVER! I would advice safety glasses, ear muffs & head protection and non synthetic clothing. AND! CLEARLY! there should be no use of drugs/alcohol, as that would be very dangerous.
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Thats gotta be the wildest good time!
I cant even imagine there are people crazier than me out there! The first look makes you want to say why in the world would anyone be in the middle of that, then after looking at it a second time your mind changes and says, OMG why am I not in the middle of that!!!!!!!!!!!
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The fireworks celebration in Mexico… OMG! You have to wonder how “free” we are here in the US when Mexicans can celebrate life like that and we cannot.
Of course it should be legal! It is like the running of the bulls – with fireworks. How alive everyone there must feel to have been a part of that.
And as an American under the thumb of an ever-more intrusive government and stuck in an environment of ever-more political-correctness – I died a little inside seeing that other people are much more free than we.
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Wow – so that’s what a free country looks like!
Excuse me while I go out and light some Naif and Lame sparklers and weep quietly.
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Greg Sanderson Reply:
March 13th, 2010 at 12:06 AM
Right on!!!
This is not crazy,,,this is freedom. You woosie shooters out there who don’t think this would be fun, are taking your fireworks safety books way too seriously!!
For Christ sakes! If you want to throw dinamite, just throw it before it goes off!! It should be your right! I of course, supplied my 12 nephews age 9-19, with goggles and grosses of bottle rockets and we had it out!! Yea…injuries…how bad can a bottle rocket hurt you when it goes off beside your skin…and whats the chance it will do that! Common you naysayers…get some adventure in your life!
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You know, I’m a fan of being stupid and all that, but this goes way beyond stupid. Ask Brian, instead of running away from a low breaking shell, I stepped towards it. But this, this is just crazy. It should definitely be illegal, anywhere in the world, it should be illegal.
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Absolutely insaine!!! There isn’t anything like the feeling of a shell leaving the tube at 300+ mph 12in from your face…..But this might be taking things a little far lol
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