The Annual ‘Secret’ Pillow Fight Will Be Held on April 5

Pillow Fight Photo Uploaded by Ethan M. Long on Flickr

Get your bedding ready, because the annual Boston pillow fight is swinging into action for the eighth year in a row on April 5.

Hosted by the Banditos Misteriosos, a fringe group of organizers that try to bring strangers in the community together to have some fun, the pillow-packing war is expected to bring close to a thousand people to a yet-to-be-named location so they can whack and whip each other with items that are usually reserved for sleeping purposes.

Banditos Misteriosos‘ mission is to bring out the “selective immaturity” that they believe people are capable of, and willing to show in brief moments of spontaneity. The group is known for their “random gift swaps,” and yearly water gun fights during the hot summer months.

The pillow fight is part of an internationally recognized celebration, called “Pillow Fight Day,” where more than 140 cities around the world play host to the softly aggressive activity. “Boston is participating in International Pillow Fight Day, when lovers of hitting other people with pillows celebrate their love of hitting other people with pillows. You don’t want to miss it, and we don’t want you to miss it,” organizers from Banditos Misteriosos, who have been putting together the event locally for years, said in a Facebook update announcing this year’s battle.

Last year, several hundred people turned out for the fight. In 2012, Boston was host to the second largest fight out of the 140 cities that participated in International Pillow Fight Day, with over 1,200 attendees, pillows in hand.

As indicated by members of the group, who wait until the last minute to tell attendees where the fight will be held, the rules and guidelines are fairly simple and straightforward: don’t bring bean-bag pillows, feathered pillows, or zippered pillows, don’t hit anyone without a pillow or holding a camera, take off your glasses, and lastly, “go all out!”

Event attendees will be asked to convene at the unspecified battlegrounds at 2:55 p.m., roughly five minutes before all hell breaks loose, and pillows start flying. The exact location will be announced online at 11:59 on Friday, April 4, in an effort to keep the fight somewhat secretive, and add an element of surprise.

But once the siren goes off—it’s war.