New Holiday Tradition: Feathers Fly

What to do on Valentine's Day if you aren't in a relationship? Send yourself flowers? A flash-mob organized in San Francisco offered this alternative:

Roughly 1,000 people drawn by internet postings and word-of-mouth converged near San Francisco's Ferry Building on Tuesday night for a half-hour pillow fight.

The underground event erupted at 6 p.m. in the center of Justin Herman Plaza with a mass rush of shrieking, laughing combatants – many of whom arrived with pillows concealed in shopping bags, backpacks and the like.

Within minutes, pillows were arcing, feathers were flying, and by the time the Ferry Building's clock tower clanged the half-hour, the plaza and hundreds of people were covered in white down that gave the scene a wintry lustre.

"I haven't giggled so hard for a really long time,'' said San Francisco resident Amy Davis, 35, an office manager for a construction company that manufactures stone facades for buildings.

Davis – who said she has been unlucky in love and was grateful for an antidote to Valentine's Day — lasted for most of the battle, but pulled out toward the end when she had her fill of breathing feathers.

Like many others, Davis learned of the pillow fight from a friend who directed her to a web site – in her case it was Wikipedia – that gave details about a planned flash mob pillow fight on Valentine's Day in San Francisco.

Apparently, last night's combat was only the latest in what is becoming a worldwide phenomenon: Pillow Fight Club. As in the "Fight Club" movie, Pillow Fight Club has rules (according to Wikipedia):

1. Tell everyone about Pillow Fight Club.
2. Tell everyone about Pillow Fight Club.
3. Turn up at the arranged Pillow Fight Club venue with pillow hidden in a bag.
4. At the exact given time pull out pillow and fight.
5. You cannot fight anyone without a pillow (unless they want it).
6. Nothing heavy can be hidden in the pillows

In addition, you are strongly encouraged to bring a feather-filled pillow. A fiber-filled pillow doesn't cut it.

The San Francisco Chronicle's SFgate.com has photos. Here's one.

San Francisco, like Los Angeles, has a lot of people in it who are separated from family roots; especially single, young people. Couldn't you see pillow fights become an alternative way to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter… ?

UPDATE: More pictures here from SF blogger Laughing Squid, who participated and said afterward:

Man, I now have feathers in really strange places.