Fireworks - past and present by Tony Green

I was sitting in downtown Livermore on the 4^th of July in picnic chairs waiting as my children used their IPad’s prior to the beginning of the fireworks display.  Traditionally, I attend the yearly celebration with my family when they are not visiting their in-laws in Japan. This year’s participation was, for the most part, a “no-brainer” since they were being held in the downtown area which was walking distance from my house.  I looked out among the people who had gathered and the unseen others in attendance at many locations throughout the country asked the question,” How did it come to this?”

 

Image of fireworks exploding

Interestingly enough, Bamboo is extremely strong and grows in a series of hollow segments. You may ask what does that have to do with fireworks? Bear with me, when bamboo is dropped into a fire and the air pockets inside will heat and expand until the bamboo explodes resulting in a loud sound. This phenomenon was first discovered in China around 200 B.C.

Moving ahead to the 9th century A.D., an unidentified alchemist, mixed sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate and by accident created gunpowder. A little gunpowder in a bamboo shoot produced the world’s first firework.

As for its connection with our nation’s independence on July 2, 1776 a day after Congress voted on separating from British rule John Adams reportedly wrote in a letter to his wife,”[The day] ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more”.

Sure enough, the next year, in Philadelphia, Congress authorized a fireworks display for the first commemoration of July 4, leading the way for fireworks to come to symbolize the day.

So now you know. With the history lesson behind us, the time had come for us to get out of the crowd and make my way back to my house.  I, and many of you, will in all probability not think again about how fireworks came to be, but it still does not take away from the enjoyment we get from spend time without families.

Image: Courtesy of fotolia.us