July 4th: The History of Fireworks

In his short story "The Fire Balloons," Ray Bradbury writes, "Independence Night, thought Father Peregrine, tremoring. He felt like a child back in those July Fourth evenings, the sky blowing apart, breaking into powdery stars and burning sound, the concussions jingling house windows like ice on a thousand thin ponds. The aunts, uncles, cousins crying, 'Ah!' as to some celestial physician" (The Illustrated Man).

In the United States of America, summer is an important time. It is a time for history, for family, and for patriotism. And no summer is complete without a good Fourth of July. Likewise, no Fourth of July is meaningful without a few fireworks. There's something inherently awesome--in the truest sense of the word--about a mixture of fire and colorful stars exploding in the atmosphere.

Although the exact time and place of the inception of fireworks is unknown, the widest held belief is that they were invented in China during the Han Dynasty, around 200 B.C., even before the invention of gunpowder. It is possible, however, that fireworks originated in the Arabic region or India. We do know the Europeans brought them from the East in 1292, long after their probable date of creation.

Supposedly, if fireworks began in China, the first firecrackers were pieces of bamboo, as the rods tended to sizzle when thrown into a fire and unexpectedly explode after a short time. Because of their quick growth, bamboo tends to trap pockets of air within. When heated, these pockets expand and then burst.

The Chinese, and their animals, were frightened by the new discovery. As opposed to using the pao chuk, or "bursting bamboo", to celebrate, it was first used religiously to scare away the evil spirit Nian, who was believed to eat crops and the people who tended them. Thus the tradition of burning bamboo began, as the people would set them of on the Lunar New Year, to ensure safety throughout the year. The connection was eventually made between this new invention and feelings of happiness; celebratory "bursting bamboo" was then used for various special occasions.

Eventually, fireworks advanced technologically with the discovery of chemical compositions like gunpowder, called "fire chemical." The combination of gunpowder and the bursting bamboo resulted in the birth of the "firecracker." The chemists experimented with various other containers for the gunpowder, discovering that chambers similar to the structure of bamboo would cause the explosion to burst in all directions. By the 10th Century, of course, the Chinese military used gunpowder explosions and "fire arrows," mostly to scare their enemies.

In 1292, Marco Polo brought firecrackers from the East, and the Europeans were quickly fascinated by the discovery. Florence, Italy became, essentially, the capital city of fireworks manufacturing in the 1400's. Italy also introduced the use of fireworks as an important art form. They discovered adding different chemicals could create different colors, like gold. In some festivals, the Italians constructed plaster figures with the ability to shoot fireworks from their eyes or mouth.

Sometime during the 1600's, fireworks were exported to the Americas to be used in celebrations or to frighten the Native Americans. On July 4th, 1777--one year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence--the United States had their first celebration of Independence, where fireworks were used to reflect patriotism and passion in an uncertain Revolutionary War.