While bargain hunting at your Milwaukee fireworks store or fireworks tents, a traditional item to buy for the 4th of July fireworks celebration is the firecracker. A majority of people do not know how these items came into actuality. it is very interesting to ask "how did the firecracker come into existence?"
It all started with pieces of bamboo that was burned in a fire, triggering the air confined inside to warm up with the sap of the green bamboo. Bamboo plants are suitable since it grows so quickly that pockets of air and sap get trapped in the plant sections. As they caught fire, the bamboos split and burst with a loud popping noise (known as "gung pow"). In early China, approximately 200 B.C., people used "the firecracker" to ward away animals from villages for safety. Later on, firecrackers were utilized to ward off evil spirits thought to be consuming the husks of village rice fields. After many years of practicing this, the crops were dwindling as villagers kept blasting additional firecrackers to the point that the village had barely any rice to harvest. The Chinese God of Good delivered a message to the village that the firecracker noises had been scaring away the Spirits of Good Fortune.
Another tale behind the initial practice of using firecrackers to deter the evil Chinese spirit named Nian, acting on the Lunar New Year eve. It has been believed that the firecracker explosion made the evil Nian run away and assured the people of a prosperous new year. To this day, startling this spirit continues to initiate fireworks celebrations in China.
The Chinese discovery of gunpowder centuries later provided more control of the bamboo popping when filled with the black powder. During the Han dynasty, research was being performed to find medicine that would allow Chinese people to live forever. Alchemists mixed various combinations of saltpeter, charcoal and sulfur during their research and discovered when it was lit, an explosion occurred. This innovation resulted in burned faces and hands; even burned down houses. This substance was later named "Hou Yao" or flaming medicine.
Most historians approve that the first exploding mixture was accidentally exposed by Chinese alchemists, the predecessor to gunpowder appeared between 600-900 A.D. Regardless of warnings, many alchemists were amazed by the combination and continued experiments with it trying to find methods to make it more powerful. According to the "Origins of Things" from the Song Dynasty of 960-1279 A.D., Ma Jun of the Three Kingdoms era of Chinese history initially used gunpowder in dried bamboo approximately 1,700 years ago. The huo yao, or gunpowder, when packed inside bamboo tubes and thrown into fire, blasted apart with a more commanding and louder blast than was made by the empty green bamboo. Fireworks stores near Milwaukee can thank this time in history for bringing about the idea of using these paper tubes.
In time, the Chinese revealed that mixtures of sulfur, carbon and potassium nitrate formed an even more remarkable explosive. During war time, the Chinese used this invention to propel arrows, and in peace time, it was an improvement for the traditional burning of bamboo. Throughout the ages, the firecracker retains its ancient title of "pao chuk" (burst bamboo).
Airborne pieces of bamboo grown into a health problem. After 1100 A.D., Chinese started stuffing black powder into firecrackers using twisted paper tubes and found the gases produced by the ignited powder could blow the tube apart with much more forcpower and created a bigger blast. Until the later part of the 20th century, all Chinese firecrackers contained a straight 75-15-10 mixture of black gun powder. As competition and chemistry advanced, modern Chinese firecracker manufacturers started using other volatile formulas by mixing powdered aluminum to initiate a flash effect, and called these "flash crackers".
The name "black cat" has been a symbol of good luck and fortune in China, a brought the most respected trading company called Black Cat, the oldest and most recognized fireworks brand in the world.
- Go Milwaukee Brewers, Pop 'em bats like bamboo shoots!
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