The annual rocket war in Vrodandos, Greece that we told you about last year has happened again. That’s the tradition of two Orthodox churches firing 50,000 homemade rockets at each other on Easter. The goal is to hit the bell towers and ring the bell.
News reports say that this year several fires were started by the rockets but they were quickly put out out… hopefully by the fire department AFTER the rocket barrage ended.
Here is a video from a previous Easter rocket war:
(THE VIDEO IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE)
A description of the tradition by xekul on YouTube:
Several days before the event, residents carefully board up both churches’ windows and doors and wrap wire sheeting around the buildings to protect worshippers.
On Easter Sunday evening, as mass is said in both churches, the rival parish “gangs” set to work, lighting fireworks and aiming them haphazardly at each other’s church bells.
Amid the melee, priests in both churches attempt to continue with mass, although the deafening sounds of fireworks and cheers as the rockets hit their targets often drown out the proceedings entirely.
Locals are not sure of the tradition’s origins, although it is possibly linked to stories of the island’s sailors, who used to battle pirates with cannons installed on their ships and began a custom of firing them at Easter.