Mascleta Manual
An interesting pyrotechnic tradition in Valencia, Spain, is the mascleta, which is described like this:
La Mascletà
Sometime around 2pm there is the mascletà (an explosive display of the concussive effects of co-ordinated firecracker and fireworks barrages) in each neighbourhood; the main attraction is the municipal Mascleta in the Plaça de l'Ajuntament where the great pyrotecnic masters compete for the honour of providing the final Mascleta of the fiestas (on March 19th). Huge crowds gather from all corners of the city to see this event (go early!). At 2pm the clock will chime and one of the lovely maidens (dressed in her fallera finery) will call from the balcony of the City Hall, Senyor pirotècnic, pot començar la mascleta! ("Mr. Pyrotechnic, you may commence the Mascleta!"). Suddenly the square rips with a pyrotechnic display of a power rarely seen outside the battlefield. Louder is better as far as Valencians are concerned, and the masters don't disappoint them. For six or seven minutes hundreds of kilograms of flash powder is gradually detonated. The crowd rocks with each explosion and great billowing clouds of smoke rise as it builds to the finale. The final crescendo of noise will leave you stunned and senseless for several seconds, at which point a huge cheer goes up from the crowd and the people run forward to applaud the pyrotecnic masters as they bow to their fans.
Mascleta is a very Valencian activity, hugely popular with the Valencian people and found in very few other places in the world. Smaller neighbourhoods often have their own mascleta for saint days, for weddings and for other celebrations as well. In Valencia, any reason is a good reason for a Mascleta.
So basically, tons of aerial and ground salutes. I'd like to see one, but personally I find them a little silly compared to night displays. Freakpyromaniacs just put up a bunch of new videos (I downloaded 4GB today!), which includes a large number of mascletas. The one I found particularly amusing was the "Mascleta Manual" (230MB), where a bunch of guys line up along a street, each with a lighter and a big pile of salutes, and just light and throw them for 20 minutes straight. My arm would get tired and I'd get bored after about 5 minutes of lighting, I guess I just don't get it...
Many more traditional ones can be found here (you'll need to be registered for the forum). One other interesting one was this one (48.5MB), because it starts off with the pyro setting off cues by drumming on some kind of efire system to give it more of a rhythm. Kind of a neat way to make your long series of salutes a little different than all the other long series of salutes...
