Authors
Post Italy’s win against England in the Euro 2021 finals last week, a video of a stream of firecrackers lit on a street has been attributed to ‘victory celebration in Italy’. The 45-second video shows a long stream of firecrackers laid on the road and bursting while a crew films it.
One user tweeted this video with the caption, “*Victory celebration in Italy*. ⚽. *Please note that pollution due to fire crackers happens only in India during Diwali.* CC: @drharshvardhan and all LeLi gang members”
Another Twitter user’s caption reads, “Italy’s celebration on euro cup victory & is exempted from pollution. Noise -Air Pollution occurs only during Deepavali in India, rest crackers spread the immunity to Ozone layer”
The above video with the caption ‘victory celebration in Italy’ has been shared widely on Twitter and Facebook in the past week.
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Fact Check / Verification
In the video, we observed the crew wearing jackets with Chinese characters written on them. Additionally, users’ comments on Twitter and Facebook suggested the video could be from Taiwan or China.
Using a combination of reverse image search and relevant keywords we found a Facebook post from April 2021 which includes a similar video with the caption (translated), “Baishatun Mazu’s Tour What is burning money? This is the record of burning money!”
Note this post is from three months before the Euro Cup finals held on 11 July 2021.
Taking cues from the above Facebook post, we did relevant keyword searches which led us to a report about the Mazu pilgrimage in Taiwan. The Baishatun Mazu procession is recognised as the longest procession of the sea goddess Mazu organised by the Baishatun Gongtian Temple in Miaoli County, Taiwan.
“According to the organizers, some 78,000 people have signed up to take part in this year’s procession that will travel around 400 kilometers to Baigan Chaotian Temple in Yunlin County and back, eclipsing the previous record of 55,000 set last year,” reported Focus Taiwan.
A 2017 report titled, “Mazu pilgrimage” by Taiwan Today shows an image of people walking alongside firecrackers laid on the street.
We also found a video with similar keyframes to the viral video uploaded by media outlet 三立新聞網SETN (Sanli News Network SETN) on their Youtube channel on 16 April 2021. With over 24,000 views the video’s description reads, “Firecrackers stretch for 500 meters, warmly welcoming Baishatun Mazu.”
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Conclusion
The video of a stream of firecrackers lit on a street is from Taiwan shot during the Mazu pilgrimage. Several online users have falsely attributed this video to ‘victory celebration in Italy’ after their win in Euro Cup 2021.
Result: Misplaced Context
Our Sources
April 2021 Facebook post: https://fb.watch/6SgZJKaPRF/
Focus Taiwan: https://focustaiwan.tw/culture/202104110006
Taiwan Today: https://taiwantoday.tw/news.php?unit=36&post=112412
Sanli News Network SETN: https://youtu.be/P2W9nVfMDbU
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