The Pillow Fight Day in Boston

Although I’ve been constantly amazed at how much Boston can show me in one academic year, I never imagined anything close to this: a pillow fight? When I learned of it on Twitter, I thought it was a joke or at least that not many people would join it. Obviously, I was totally wrong. Boston ranks as the second pillow-fightingest among more than 70 other cities on World Pillow Fight Day. 

That Saturday morning I was on a shooting assignment near Government Center. On my way home, I saw some people carrying pillows at the subway station. This immediately raised my curiosity as I realized that what I’d heard was not a prank. I approached a girl with pillow in hand and asked her about the fight. She introduced herself as Sarah, and she told me that she came all the way from Connecticut to participate. Maybe it was because of the excitement evident in her voice, but I decided to join the fray. Now I feel so lucky that I didn’t miss it!

We went to Quincy Market to have lunch, and it was totally packed… maybe because it’s the weekend, maybe because a fair number of the visitors here were on their way to the Christopher Columbus Park, where the pillow fight would take place. Anyhow, I examined every suspicious passerby with stuffed backpack, and I tried to imagine how many people were actually going to show up for the fight. This event is way more serious than I thought, and it was huge. According to Banditos Misteriosos, more than 1,100 participants were there, as were tons of photographers and reporters.

After a lunch sitting on the ground in the crowded Quincy Market food court, Sarah took out the team T-shirt that she designed specifically for this fight. Their team is named “The Pink Pillow Punisher” and therefore the shirts and pillow cases are all pink. At this point, I was totally beyond myself. I couldn’t wait to see what the other teams had in store. We arrived the park 40 minutes before the scheduled starting time. Sarah said that everyone should look inconspicuous until the starting signal. How could one possibly look inconspicuous? On this chilling, rainy, muddy day in this windy park near the sea, how many of those walking around with big bags could actually be innocent tourists? No way! As time passed, the park grew crowded, and obviously not many people followed the rules. There are pillows everywhere! Sarah’s pink team started to warm up and change into team shirts a few minutes before the starting point, and they looked nervous. 

Suddenly, a masked man with a colorful flag started to run around when an incredible loud siren broke the silence. The crowd, including men and women, old and young, all instantaneously ran after the flag man to the center of the park and started to… fight! I was so excited at this point, and I rushed into the center of the fight without fear. That was so heedless. Although the rules said no one should attack anyone with a camera or without a pillow, people were too crazy to observe any rule at that moment. I was repeatedly stepped, punched, pushed or hit with pillows. Sometimes it really hurt, and I had to stop taking pictures until the pain went away. 

Hundreds of cameras propped up during the fight. Eventually there were only two kinds of people in the park: those who were documenting and those who were being documented. Everyone seemed to enjoy the process, including me. At first I thought this was a crazy little game that would attract no more than a dozen participants, but it turned out like a sweet dream. Just as one fighter told me, it’s like going back to childhood again. That’s true, in this special time and under the gloomy economy, entertainment and break are particularly needed to release pressure.  

The whole fight lasted about one hour, and several times I lost track of my pink team as the fight became so fierce that it was impossible to follow them around. Maybe it’s because Boston has a large population of students that this became one of the biggest fights among others. Anyhow, the pillow fight game is now on my list of must-sees in Boston. If I’m lucky enough to come back, I’ll make sure next time there’s a pillow in my hand.