The city of Tultepec in Mexico might be the world’s most explosive city. Three-quarters of Tultepec’s population work in the fireworks business, and sometimes their pyrotechnics activities cause deadly accidents. However, locals shrug their shoulders and say it’s the lot of a fireworks maker. They throw an extravagantly wild, week-long fireworks festival every year. Its highlight is the ‘pamplonada’, a parade of colourful bull effigies rigged with fireworks. Participants prepare everything themselves — building bull-shaped floats, painting them and loading them with hand-made fireworks. Then they set them on fire to watch sparks fly in every direction as they celebrate the passion and peril of their craft.
Authors
Mexican Boom Town
