Pillow fight
Encyclopedia
Mock combat
Mock combat involves the execution of combative actions without intent to harm. Participants can engage in such sparring for ritual, training, recreational or performance reasons...
, utilizing pillow
Pillow
A pillow is a large cushion support for the head, usually used while sleeping in a bed, or for the body as used on a couch or chair. There are also throw pillows , which are pillows that are purely decorative and not designed for support or comfort...
s as weapons.
Many times pillow fights occur during children's sleepovers. Since pillows are often soft, injuries rarely occur. The heft of a pillow can still knock a young person off balance, especially on a soft surface such as a bed, which is a common venue. A useful technique in a pillow fight is to bundle the nibs. In earlier eras, pillows would often break, shedding feathers throughout a room. Modern pillows tend to be stronger and are often filled with a solid block of artificial filling, so breakage occurs far less frequently. An organized pillow fight will usually feature feathers due to its traditional value. Sexy pillow fights are often done between teen girls and skimpy clothing and is a fantasy for some men.
Organized pillow fights
Pillow fighting became part of flash mobFlash mob
A flash mob is a group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and sometimes seemingly pointless act for a brief time, then disperse, often for the purposes of entertainment, satire, artistic expression...
culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
with pillow fight flash mob
Pillow fight flash mob
A pillow fight flash mob is a social phenomenon of flash mobbing and shares many characteristics of a culture jam. The flash mob version of massive pillow fights is distinguished by the fact that nearly all of the promotion is Internet-based...
s popping up in cities
City
A city is a relatively large and permanent settlement. Although there is no agreement on how a city is distinguished from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status based on local law.For example, in the U.S...
around the world.
It is also one of the match types among women wrestlers called Divas
WWE Diva
Diva is a term used by World Wrestling Entertainment , an American professional wrestling promotion, to refer to its female talent. The term is applied to women who appear as wrestlers, managers or valets, backstage interviewers, or ring announcers....
in World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
(WWE). Most often, this type of match is booked as a Lingerie Pillow Fight, in which the women "compete" in lingerie
Lingerie
Lingerie are fashionable and possibly alluring undergarments.Lingerie usually incorporates one or more flexible, stretchy materials like Lycra, nylon , polyester, satin, lace, silk and sheer fabric which are not typically used in more functional, basic cotton undergarments.The term in the French...
and little or no actual wrestling takes place but feathers in the pillows were sometimes shedding from place to place.
In January 2007, Reuters reported that a Pillow Fight League
Pillow Fight League
The Pillow Fight League is a Toronto-based semi-professional sports league centered around public pillow fights. The tongue in cheek women's sport is hosted in a fighting arena, much like a boxing or wrestling match. The League was founded by PFL Commissioner Stacey P. Case, and Honorary PFL...
was operating in bars in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
. Pre-selected female "fighters" with stage personalities are paid small amounts to stage regular, unscripted fights. The rules call for "no lewd behavior, and moves such as leg drops or submission holds are allowed as long as a pillow is used".
Students at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
have incorporated a Spring Pillow Fight into the spring semester version of their bi-annual primal scream tradition. Students run into the center of campus screaming and pillow fighting on midnight of the Sunday of finals
Final examination
A final examination is a test given to students at the end of a course of study or training. Although the term can be used in the context of physical training, it most often occurs in the academic world...
week as a way to relieve stress. Feathers in the pillows were sometimes shedding from place to place.
At the conclusion of the spring semester at the University of Rochester
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...
an orchestrated pillow fight is held on the main Eastman
George Eastman
George Eastman was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and invented roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream...
quad with one team attacking and another defending Rush Rhees Library
Rush Rhees Library
Rush Rhees Library is the main academic library of the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York. It is one of the most visible and recognizable landmarks on the university's River Campus. Construction began in 1927 with the other original River Campus buildings and the library was dedicated...
.
The Guinness World Record for the largest pillow fight was set on November 14, 2008, at Butlins in Minehead
Minehead
Minehead is a coastal town and civil parish in Somerset, England. It lies on the south bank of the Bristol Channel, north-west of the county town of Taunton, from the border with the county of Devon and in proximity of the Exmoor National Park...
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, headlined by former X Factor
The X Factor (UK)
The X Factor is a British television music competition to find new singing talent. Created by Simon Cowell, it began in September 2004 and is contested by aspiring singers drawn from public auditions. It is the originator of the international X Factor franchise. The seven series of the show to date...
singer Chico Slimani
Chico Slimani
Yousseph "Chico" Slimani is a Welsh born singer of Moroccan descent who rose to prominence in the United Kingdom after reaching the quarter-finals of the 2005 series of the talent show The X Factor. In 2006, he had a number 1 hit on the British charts entitled "It's Chico Time"...
. The previous record was beaten by 58 people, with 3,706 people all fighting at once, a spokesman for the Guinness Book of Records said.
A Washington teenager by the name Justin Meyer attempted to break the record at Howard Amon Park in Richland, WA, on July 16, 2011. He came up short, with only 874 people signing in, and an estimate 1000 showing up.