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Archive for the ‘History of Fireworks’ Category

Yes kids, believe it or not young people had to work for their entertainment in the olden days.

Above you can see a group of rosy cheeked youngsters out collecting firewood for their bonfire. In those days the bonfire was just as important as the fireworks and it was a matter of pride to ensure that your street/village/club had a bigger bonfire than your local rivals. It was not uncommon for young wags (wag meaning something different in those days, not the wife or girlfriend of a footballer) to sneak out to light the bonfire of their “enemies” the night before bonfire night, leaving them with a pile of ashes rather than a big pile of wood.

Such acts often met similar retaliation and this could mean that no-one had a bonfire come the big night. Such is the nature of man.

We must only hope that these barrels did not contain anything flammable. Can you imagine a group of kids doing something like this nowadays? No, you can’t, because health and safety would have a fit, saying such things as:

“Climbing on top of a pile of wood, terribly unsafe.”

“Those barrels could slip and fall at any time.”

“This is an outrage.”

and other such mutterings.

However surely these are rights of passage for a young lad and made them appreciate their hard work  when they see the flames licking up from their bonfire heap and think “I made that”. This is something that is sadly lacking in todays culture. The kids would much rather sit and play their new computer game “bonfire builder 4: The finding of the pallet”

Now this is definately not the safest lad in the village.

It was common in the good old days for everyone to get rid of all their old crap during the bonfire season. Anything that could burn would be thrown onto the pile. Busted old sofas, the obligatory smelly urine stained mattress (when not occupying a skip), broken doors, piles of old tyres (as seen in the photograph above) that would billow out thick black toxic smoke for days. Nothing was banned from being thrown on a fire, after all, our fire had to be bigger than theirs. Nowadays of course, you cannot burn a piece of wood if it has a dot of paint on it as this will pollute our clean air.

We are all for clean air laws and would not condone burning anything that did not comply. But it did feel natural to launch practically any household item onto a fire, it was like a Spring cleaning, in Autumn and positively enforceed community participation.

And this is what is missing today; Community participation. The image above shows people dancing gaily (that meant something different in the olden days too) sharing each others company and coming together in a spirit of community. This was back in the days when people knew their neighbours forenames and surnames and spoke to each other more than just the morning nod as everyone jumps into their cars. Times were when a man felt like he belonged to street or town or village and did not just live there.

The bonfire was an integral part of this belonging, and like bonfire festivals and events that still go on around the world is a vital part of bringing people together. After all, many people still call it Bonfire Night.

What do you call the 5th of November?

a)Bonfire Night

b)Guy Fawkes Night

c)Fireworks Night

Leave us a comment and let us know.

The city of Tultepec in Mexico has a very unusual way of celebrating their favourite saint. They strap a whole load of rockets and fireworks to large wooden bulls and the brave young men of the city dance around them as the rockets fly all over the place!

Tultepec is the Mexico’s home of fireworks, with more fireworks makers there than you can shake a rocket stick at with about 80% of the country’s fireworks produced there since the 18^th century. San Juan de Dios is the patron saint of firework makers and a week long national pyrotechnic fair commemorates him. He is famed for rescuing patients from a burning hospital. Nowadays firework manufacturers pray to San Juan to protect their workshops and keep them safe from fire. The annual pyrotechnic fair was started in 1989 to safeguard the rich history and promote the skills of the pyrotechnicians of Mexico.

Firework “Castillo’s” or castles are fashioned in the shape of bulls and other animals in light wood. These are then covered with paper and decorated and painted. They are completely covered in fireworks and rockets and the young daredevils (madmen) jump around them and shout FIRE! FIRE! As they wear only hoods and thick jumpers to protect themselves. The bravest men will stand next to the bulls for as long as they can, it is a matter of pride to stand right next to the exploding structures. Needless to say there are often injuries and minor burns are very common serious burns, sadly are also rather common.

It’s a bit ironic that to honour the saint who saved patients from his hospital, saved them from burning, the locals burn themselves. Surely San Juan de Dios did not like people burning? Or else he would not have saved them? This is the way of traditions however and logic is not always required.

Check the videos, say wow at the madness you see there and please please do not try any of this at home.

Or is it the most amazing rocket rack you have ever seen?

This is hardcore stuff. Found in an old book dating from 1668, this was the way to make fireworks at the time. What you see here are digitized images taken straight from the book, which was entitled: Lettres a une princesse d’Allemagne sur divers sujets de physique et de philosophie. Roughly (very roughly) translated as: Letters to a German Princess on various topics in physics and philosophy.

This book was written by a man named Leonhard Euler who, presumably knew a German Princess and wrote her letters. In this book, besides talking about fireworks. He talks about such diverse things as,

• How to make dainty sport with a cat
• A speedy way to make a horse fat, plump and lusty
• To put ones finger in, or to wash it in lead
• and the classic: how (for a wager) to cleave a thin groate in sunder like two groates

Yes, all the important things a 17th century princess would want to know (PS this is all totally genuine, we are not making it up, we wish we were, but we’re not.)

The most amazing for us of course are the pages upon pages of brilliant and incredibly complicated instructions for making and using fireworks.

Heres some of the text and images from this amazing book.

Aerial shells have certainly come a long way.

Lancework (also called setpieces) were insanely dramatic it seems, with all manner of creatures being portrayed. It looks as if as much work went into the machine (the wooden device used to conceal the actual firework) as went into the fireworks themselves.

Please please please, do not try this at home, seriously. However delectable to the spectators it may seem. Pyrotechnic compositions should only be attempted by trained and qualified professionals (or 17th  century german princesses)

So that should all be clear enough, if you can have your finished results in by Monday.

There are far too many pages of these to put them all here, but here is a link to the google books source that we guarantee will keep you entertained for hours. We stress again that nothing you have read here should be attempted. Leave it to the professionals.

The man, the myth, the legend…. and now the statue.

Fireworks were discovered quite by accident many many centuries ago and they were discovered by this great man here.

This huge statue of the godfather of fireworks is part of the Fireworks museum in Liuyang City, Hunan, China. Litian is given full credit for bringing fireworks to the world and is a popular figure there. There is a shrine in the museum where hopeful pyrotechnists pray to him for good fortune and to keep all their fingers intact.

The great man himself was a monk and lived about 1000  years ago. Want to learn more about him? Epic Fireworks have got it covered. Read The origin of fireworks

Over at Bob Shea and Lane Smith’s wonderful Curious Pages blog, they’ve posted the classic Jim Flora children’s book, The Fabulous Firework Family (1955). Flora is best known for his distinctive designs for RCA and Columbia Record jackets, magazines and various commercial art projects of the 40s and 50s. The Fabulous Firework Family launched Flora’s second career as a children’s book author and illustrator.

The book was acquired by Terrytoons during the Gene Deitch era (1956-1958) and the resulting film turned out to be the last cartoon Deitch personally produced at the studio. Al Kouzel directed and, though Flora was involved with adapting the story to the screen, the final result wasn’t entirely successful in translating the charm of the original book.

It’s illuminating to compare the book to the cartoon. Below is a pan-and-scan TV version of the Terrytoon, sans credits. (The original CinemaScope version of the film, with full credits, will be screened March 2nd at my Wide Screen Cartoons program at the CineFamily/Silent Movie Theatre).

The Catherine wheel is a type of firework which is generally made of a spiralling tube filled with pyrotechnic composition, or an angled rocket mounted with a pin through its centre. When ignited, it rotates quickly, producing a display of sparks and coloured flame and looks great at the bottom of the garden.

So, now we know what a Catherine Wheel is, where did it get its unusual name from?

It’s a lot more gruesome than you may think, the family favourite firework is named after the instrument of torture, the breaking wheel, on which, legend has it St. Catherine was martyred. Although some legends say that as soon as she touched the wheel it broke (that must have put the willies up the pagans – not a euphemism)

The Catherine Wheel was a product of the Middle Ages, especially popular in Germany (no comments on this please, remember we’re all friends now, one Europe and all that). The victim’s limbs were brutally smashed with large blunt objects. His (or her) still-living remains were subjected to… the wheel. This meant the mangled arms and legs were threaded through the spokes. The wheel was then hoisted into the air using a long pole. Hungry vultures and crows picked at the body. Death came slowly, (like watching an Al Murray – Pub Landlord comedy routine).

A seventeenth-century chronicler wrote the victim looked like, “A sort of huge screaming puppet writhing in rivulets of blood, a puppet with four tentacles, like a sea monster, of raw, slimy and shapeless flesh mixed up with splinters of smashed bones.” Sleep soundly kids.

This was one of the most popular spectacles of the time. This, and similar methods of torture, took place in the squares of Europe from 1450-1750. The masses, both common people and nobles, watched in twisted fascination, cheering at a good wheeling (what made it good is unclear but we guess the messier the better). A woman (or a number of women in a row) brought even greater enthusiasm, similar to women in pro-wrestling nowadays, although for quite different reasons we assume.

The wheel was named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria from the early 4th century. She was believed to have been killed in this fashion during the rule of the Roman Emperor Maximinus (presumably Maximinus was upset about people commenting that his name was somewhat similar to that of a sanitary towel – citation needed).

Catherine was born and raised a pagan, but miraculously converted to Christianity in her late teens (typical rebellious teenager). It is said that she visited her contemporary, the Roman Emperor Maximinus, and attempted to convince him of the error of his ways in persecuting Christians. She succeeded in converting his wife, the Empress, and many pagan philosophers whom the Emperor sent to dispute with her, all of whom were subsequently martyred. Upon the failure of the Emperor to win Catherine over, he ordered her to be put in prison; and when the people who visited her converted this must have really annoyed big Maximinus because she was condemned to death on the breaking wheel (the name at that time for the Catherine Wheel). According to legend, the wheel itself broke when she touched it, so she was beheaded.

You can just imagine the scene…

Sound effects: Splintering wood and crashing

Catherine: “Whoops, clumsy me, sorry bout that lads.”

First torturer: “oh, look, oh no, she has the power of God, her hand has broken the wheel, cower in fear, cower and plead for your life!”

Second torturer: “No probs, I’ll just lob ‘er ‘ead off.”

Sound effects: Swish, Splat, Thud, General Medieval style cheering.

(Dramatisation, may not have happened)

Catherine was remembered thereafter as a symbol of martyrdom, purity and knackering up the wheel she was named after. The Breaking Wheel, now known as a Catherine Wheel continued to be used for executions and all round nastiness for centuries to come and was still used right up till the 1700’s. When, thankfully, far more nasty ways of messing people up were evolved, which we will not go into here.

Please remember this is supposed to be taken lightly and in good humour, noone was tortured during the writing of this article so please don’t write in. For all your Catherine Wheel needs, visit www.epicfireworks.com for the largest range of fireworks in the UK.

A bit of nostalgia for all the Americans out there.

As the nights draw in, a small band of mischief-makers prepare for an annual night of mayhem. Mischief Night is their chance to let loose and cause a little bit of chaos.

Depending on where you live, it lands sometime around Halloween and Bonfire Night. And opinions vary on whether it is a chance for harmless fun or an excuse for anti-social behaviour.

Like many native traditions, its exact origins are unknown, but Mischief Night is thought to date from the 1700s when a custom of Lawless Hours or Days prevailed in Britain.

“These were times when normal laws were suspended and tricks could be played ranging from throwing cabbage stalks at people, to the swapping of shopkeeper’s signs and gates,” says Simon Costin, Director of the Museum of British Folklore.

Go back to the 1950s it was largely an age of innocence. So the sorts of pranks were the kind of things that make modern people smile

It was not until the 1830s that Mischief Night itself appears on record, held on 30 April. Today, however, it is an autumnal occasion. Some are adamant it is 4 November, while for others it will always be the night before Halloween.

Many believe this discrepancy lies with its connection to Halloween, which was held over several days after Britain switched from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar in 1752.

“We removed 11 days to adjust, which means some places observed the old dates for things like Christmas and Halloween and some observed the new,” says Professor Stephen Sayers of Leeds Metropolitan University.

“Halloween, Bonfire Night, trick or treating and Mischief Night are all part and parcel of what used to be one festival.”

Since the 1950s, Mischief Night appears to have died out in all areas of the UK except northern England, and it is not at all clear why.

What is known is that it was exported to the United States, and recently re-imported as trick or treat, now popular across the UK.

“It may well be that the North has disconnected from the South which has been far more in tune with modernity,” says Mr Sayers.

“We tend to think of Britain as all behaving as if it’s one thing, but there are vast sections that still observe old customs that have largely died out elsewhere.”

Some of the more traditional pranks might have disappeared, but there is no evidence that Mischief Night itself is going the same way.

Online chat rooms prove it is alive and well. “Put peanut butter under the door handles of people’s cars so they’ll get it all in their fingers,” suggests one mischief-maker.

Such is the resilience of pranksters that some police forces put on extra patrols. The crack-down has become a week-long operation, because what started as one night of minor mayhem has morphed into a week or so of mayhem.

“Arrests go up around Mischief Night, we get a bit of a spike around those 10 days,” says Ch Insp Mark Khan from North Yorkshire Police. “The catalyst seems to be as soon as the clocks fall back, obviously it gets darker earlier and kids are out.”

Some believe we are becoming less tolerant of what is essentially harmless fun, but others think it is becoming more vicious. Traditionally mischief-makers stole gates or knocked on doors then ran away.

“Go back to the 1950s, it was largely an age of innocence,” says Mr Sayers. “So the sorts of pranks were the kind of things that make modern people smile.”

Nowadays, you are more likely to be covered in batter or have a firework pushed through the letter box.

So at this time of year, supermarkets ban the sale of flour and eggs to under-16s. And, contrary to the popular belief that on Mischief Night you are immune from prosecution, police will take action.

“They commit some kind of criminal damage or public order offence, and the next thing is they’re in trouble with the law and they get some kind of caution,” says Ch Insp Khan.

Some argue Mischief Night is a necessary evil. It allows people to experiment with behaviour that would normally be socially unacceptable. Social psychologists call it “psycho-social moratoria.”

“It means a time when the normal rules don’t apply,” says Mr Sayers. “A good example would be the office Christmas party, where all the guzzlings and flirtations you can get away with to an extent. Try that in the middle of June and you would be shown the door.”

It could be that Mischief Night allows people the opportunity to thumb their nose at authority in a way that is socially controlled, he adds.

So, far from being discouraged, some argue Mischief Night should be embraced.

“We [humans] are a set of contradictions sometimes charged with passion, sometimes charged with a darker nature that we need to express in some way,” says Mr Sayers.

“Anyone can be aggressive, but it’s skilled to be aggressive in a way that is socially acceptable and physically and morally and spiritually uplifting and, most of all, good fun.”

The Mouse by Cube Fireworks is a classic piece of British consumer fireworks history.

Created by Brothers Pyrotechnics back in the days when the best display fireworks in the UK could be counted on one hand.

This lovely and soon to be extinct firework has 35 shots of lovely fanned tails that launch 5 at a time and squeak their way through the night sky.

Cube Fireworks have sadly ceased to be and this is one of the last remnants of the Cube range that Epic stock.

This year is your last chance to see this little gem in action. Don’t miss out and order today!

Congratulations to Mexico. Celebrating Independence Day today the 16th of September.

Mexicans celebrate their nation’s birth by invoking El Grito de Independencia, the “shout of independence” uttered by the priest Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1810  in which he cried the immortal line:

“Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe, & Death to the Spaniards!”.

A dramatic re-enactment of the revolutionary Father Hidalgo’s call to his fellow Mexicans to join the uprising – takes place in city halls throughout the country. Mexican flags are seemingly on display everywhere you go and celebrations continue late into the night. On 16 September, military parades are held in most Mexican cities.

It is a time of great national pride and a celebration of Mexico’s cultural identity during which fireworks play an important part of the activities.

And in our own way we honour the mexican people, with our favourite video of Mexican Fireworks.

The Classic, Mexican Hammer Fireworks, Enjoy!