'Pascha bombs': one of the more startling traditions on the horizon

[biro]

Last year at Pascha, a scare came about after some calls to the police, over objects on a roof in Tarpon Springs, Florida. These items turned out to be 'Pascha bombs,' fireworks-like devices. Services at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral and other area churches proceeded as normal, but the nuisance of the explosives may be seen in the area again.

From the article:

Even so, the ear blast is never enough for the most competitive bombmakers. Cpl. Scott Brockew, a Tarpon Springs police detective and Pinellas County's only bomb technician, once confiscated a homemade explosive about the size of a watermelon.

[augustin717]

We too, as children, used to improvise little cannons using calcium carbide all throughout the paschal triduum . They produced a very loud noise.
The noise used to be that loud on the church's courtyard on Thursday and Friday evenings that the sacristan would constantly have to go out yell at the children to stop snapping all those sorts of petards.

[Father H]

Setting off fireworks on Pascha is normal in many traditional countries, as well as several places in the US.   

[Zenovia]

Okay so you want fireworks, well watch this.  The beautiful two hundred twenty year old church  shooting off  the rockets is shown at the end of the video.  It is my mothers family parish and it's quite famous because of this rocket war.  As you can see the style is more Western than Byzantine.  Originally it was a Catholic church...courtesy of its Genovese  heritage.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwYrPhLBvz8&feature=related

[biro]

While Pascha 'bombs' and fireworks can be fun if well-made and used carefully, sometimes they're not, as was found out again in Tarpon Springs, Florida.

From the article:

Joe Young lives directly across from the bar in an upstairs apartment. Thankfully he wasn't home on Saturday night. His living room and bedroom are directly in the blast’s radius of damage.

“Shards of glass over my bed, all the furniture was moved chairs knocked over,” Young said of his residence. “I imagine I would’ve gotten hurt pretty bad [if I had been home.]”

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