Is setting off firecrackers a folk custom?

Setting off firecrackers is a traditional custom of the Chinese nation. At midnight, the New Year bell rang and firecrackers rang through the land of China. In this "three yuan" moment of "year yuan, month yuan, time yuan", some places still set up "Wang Huo" in the courtyard to show that the spirit is soaring and prosperous. Around the blazing fire, the children set off firecrackers and danced happily. At this time, the bright lights in the house, the sparks in front of the court and the deafening noise outside the house pushed the lively atmosphere of New Year's Eve to a climax. This also reminds us of historical stories, which are very vivid.

The custom of setting off firecrackers has a history of more than 2500 years in China. The Story of Jingchu Times once recorded that on the first day of the first month, when the rooster crowed for the first time, everyone got up and set off firecrackers in their own yard to drive away the evil spirits of plague.

At that time, there was no gunpowder and paper. People burned bamboo to make it burst and make a sound, so as to drive away the plague. This is superstition, of course, but it reflects the ancient working people's desire for Aetna.

Firecrackers in the Tang Dynasty, also known as "blasting poles", probably burned a long bamboo pole piece by piece and made a continuous popping sound. Nanchang poet Lai Hu's poem "Early Spring": "The new calendar is only half open, and the pavilion is still bursting." This is the scene of burning bamboo poles during the Spring Festival.

Later, after constant chemical experiments, alchemists found that saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal together could cause combustion and explosion, so they invented gunpowder. Some people put gunpowder in bamboo tubes and detonate it loudly, thus replacing the ancient custom of burning bamboo. Fireworks wrapped in roll paper in the Northern Song Dynasty were divided into single-ring and double-ring fireworks, which were renamed as "firecrackers" and later changed to "firecrackers".