New Year's Eve Hawaiian Style

New Years Eve in Hawaii turns into the most polluted night of the year. Fireworks here in the islands are legal except for the aerial rocket bombs which are illegal, yet it seems as though everyone has a brother or cousin or father who can always get these illegal rockets smuggled in through the shipyard docks in containers coming from China of course. If Aerials were truly illegal you'd think we'd be hearing any by now? Besides, I know the police here know too well about them and I'm so sure that they themselves are probably in on acquiring and blowing a few for themselves as well.

Aside from a polluted night, this is the only night out of the year that my home as well as the rest of the states homes are chokingly filled with smoke. Every single New Years Eve in Hawaii there has never ever been rain nor winds so this place turns into a nightmarish environment for anyone who has respiratory ailments. Peoples pets need to be tranquilized with a sleepy pill from their Veterinary because if you're an animal here it is sheer hell on this one smoky, continuous mega bomb sounding night. The best thing you could do for your pet is admit him/her to the vet overnight where they'll be sheltered in a building that is solid and the loud bomb noises will not be heard as much or as bad.

I must admit, if you have not been to Hawaii on New Years Eve you'd never believe all the fireworks being blown off throughout the entire state by kids and adults. And as the New Year approaches and families are counting down to the minutes you can literally see all the aerials blanketing the skies of Oahu, it's quite a spectacular site to see. Living high up on the mountains I am fortunate to see all the fireworks from across several parts of the state as well as within my own neighborhood.

Residents are required to purchase permits for every 5000 fireworks and if you intend to blow more that's that many more permits that you need to purchase at $25 each. Frankly, I'd rather just roll a wad of dollars and light it up in flames. People here are so lame to buy permits to blow fireworks, they don't even realize that they are being ripped off. There are probably gazillions of other people out here without any permits blowing fireworks. Immediately after thanksgiving people start blowing and as it gets closer to New Years Eve fireworks are blown even more frequently. Residents here do need to apply for a permit to blow fireworks.

My brother blows aerials every single year, he has never missed a year, he is also a stevedore.

I have only witnessed his fireworks spectacle show once in my life and it sure is something to watch. He would line his street with all the aerials and light them all one after another, literally putting on a show for his neighborhood because they would all come out to see and watch. Put it this way, it's like having a Disneyland fireworks show right outside your door. Unfortunately, I can't go to his house this year, I have pets to watch and my house to watch as well, I can't have my house burning down while I'm away, especially with many irresponsible people out here blowing fireworks that lack respect for others property. I'll also miss the onolicious foods that he will be serving up, sigh...this breaks my tummies little heart!

Sashimi is a big hit on New Years Eve it's even bigger than champagne and people in Hawaii love to eat so they go out and buy a great deal of foods and they prepare a lot of good eats. I always look forward to the last three remaining holidays of the year because of the food. Hawaiian food is yummy and Chinese food is yum as well so every family differs in what they serve on New Years Eve and New Years Day. Holidays are always festive and fun and you also get to catch up with the family that you rarely see the entire year. It's funny we all live on the same island yet we really never see each other until the holidays or funerals,weddings, graduations etc.

New Years Eve in Hawaii is a very big thing filled with fireworks, tons of foods, a lot of parties, a lot of professional fireworks displays shows going on around the state as well. If I am not mistaken our state is the only state to have legalized blowing fireworks when it comes to the public individually for New Years Eve. Other states have only public display shows done by professionals. They have also been trying to ban fireworks here for years but they really can't because there is a lot of money involved. It's gonna take something drastic and tragic for this state to ever pass a bill banning fireworks in Hawaii and even if so I still don't believe that it will ever happen. In hawaiian we say,

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! Happy New Year!