Spotlight: Fireworks, the Legal Explosive? Part 2
Bangers and Crash: Dealing with the menace of 'legal' explosives - Fireworks
Fireworks and their Origins:
In the very beginnings the ancient population of past China employed the use of fireworks at festivals and to also scare their enemies during battle.
According to legend, the Chinese population were making the earliest fireworks during the 800's; they would fill up bamboo shoots using gunpowder and ignite these during New Year periods. The bamboo shoots seem to have been primarily used and explosively lit to frighten off spirits with evil intent.
Marco Polo is then rumoured to have introduced the firework origins and idea within Europe.
Other ideas around the origins of fireworks and their use also stem from India and the Arab communities. Firework existence is widely known to have become apparent in the European areas during the 1300's and by the 1400's, Florence in Italy became the epicentre of manufacturing for fireworks. At a later stage from the 1700's, firework displays became more and more ornate and dazzling, royals were particularly enthralled with the firework design.
Firework use today is normally extensive and they are in use for many different religious festivals, occasions and celebrations throughout the world.
Fireworks in their earliest use were more extensively used for their sounds, rather than colours and designs. During the development of fireworks more and more combinations of chemical compounds and oxygen amounts were discovered to aid the visual enjoyment of the firework experience.
During the 1830's, the people of Italy began the multi-coloured displays we are familiar with today in 2003. The Italians combined tiny amounts of different metals to burn at extremely high temperatures to display amazing colours and effects.
For
the UK, November 5th, 'Guy Fawkes Day' (or 'Bonfire Night') is steeped
in tradition. The 5th of November notes the anniversary of the 'Gunpowder
Plot' which involved a conspiracy in 1605, in which the English
Parliament was designated to be the victim of an explosive plot
with their intended destruction. King James I was also an intended
recipient of the explosion by Guy Fawkes (a soldier who previously
had been in service at Flanders) and his associates and they planned
this event to occur while the King was in presence to open Parliament.
Guy Fawkes' co-conspirators - Robert Catesby, John Wright, and Thomas Winter, who were the originators; Christopher Wright, Robert Winter, Robert Keyes, Thomas Percy, John Grant, Sir Everard Digby, Francis Tresham, Ambrose Rookwood, and Thomas Bates were all foiled in their plans to blow up Parliament.
Right Image: The unfortunate conspirator Fawkes appears before his intended victim
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