Monday, May 16, 2011

Independence Day - Israeli Style

Yom HaAtzmaut - Israeli Independence Day

The whole country turns blue and white.
There are flags everywhere.
There are Star of David toys, inflatable hammers, cowboy hats etc etc etc.

Our local Seven Stars Mall decked out in flag bunting.

The CafeCafe around the corner from my apartment with hugemongous flags.

Sexy clothing store with a blue and white display.
One of the mannequins is topless (she was for DAYS, poor dear). 

Some festive tchotchkes - Flags, horns, noise makers and light-up headbands (I bought one!).

Aforementioned Star of David cowboy hats.

Inflatable hammers for children to hit each other with.

In the evening I went to the street party in my city. It was quite spectacular! The streets were full of people and vendors. There were musical acts and children's dancing performances. I went with some of my friends including Roommate E. and some other classmates.



Israeli Candied Apples!


The fireworks as viewed from our apartment.

Blue and White and Vodka!

Hugest Shawarma known to YGirl.

Children dutifully spraying foam on the four dogs sculpture.
What is a celebration without foam and silly string?



Lady on stilts!

People viewing the festivities from their balconies. I bet they didn't sleep at all (lots of noise and excitement).

Toy machine guns for independence!

Fireworks over a weird half-finished building in the center. This was over the main music stage.

"And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air..."
Whoops! Wrong country!



Then we ate. Cuz that's how we celebrate. This is one of the newest Jewish/Israeli holidays but the pattern follows the traditional model:
"They tried to kill/annihilate us, but we won. Let's eat."
Ice cream.
Shawarma.
Chinese-style dumplings.
Delicious.

The remains of the huge shawarma.

It was a glorious party. I danced in the Israeli streets!



1 comment:

Loraine said...

Awesome pics! Thanks for sharing! :)