They fought to the end, sometimes to exhaustion, novices and regulars, some even honed to the exercise for several years as this annual event becomes for them unmissable.

It must be said that the trip is worth because at the end of the fight, there is no winner or loser, only several thousands of people happy to "have fun and laugh to cry for a whole afternoon.

"The right to be crazy"

The New York's annual International Pillow Fight Day took place at Washington Square Park transformed, under a beautiful blue sky, into a giant dormitory where participants suddenly find their child's soul to flutter foam and feathers in a merry general fight. Some of them even show up in pijamas.

"We give ourselves the right to be crazy," enthuses Nia, a young saleswoman in Manhattan, came to participate in his first "battle" with his boyfriend Travis. "Here, there is no anger or negativity."

"We get old when we stop playing"

The policy is also fully respected. Organizers asked not to bang too hard and also to avoid throwing his cushion on cameras.

If all wars could resemble those pacifist struggles where scuds are nothing but pillows. "I've been here with my daughter Zoe for four years," says Qwonjit, a poet-writer in New York. "Here, people can be themselves, no matter the skin color and we can meet people as well."

"We get old when we stop playing", summarizes Abraham glad for having sweated with his pillow.

Leave once a year worries and your stress of everyday life at home and come to let off steam because beyond the mess, there is a also a good cause. 

"Free hugs" session 

Indeed, several non-profit organizations suggest to the big children of a day to forget their headrest home and stop at Mattress Firm's NoHo location to buy a brand new one in exchange for a $5.00 donation to the Mattress Firm Foster Kids program. The participants can support artists and environnement causes too.

"Through this wild and soft gathering, we want to bring people together," explains Zoya, a translator, who came to lend a hand to the organization before giving the final whistle and inviting the wrestlers to clean up all their white foam clouds covering the place.

After New York, Washington, Paris, London, Milan, Madrid, Toronto, Amsterdam, among other cities, have seized the event that ends with a "free hugs" session at will.