Fire In the Sky

When our children were little, we used to drive to the Berkeley Hills to watch the July 4th fireworks. Nowadays I have a wide window that allows me to see fireworks from across San Francisco Bay and in all other neighboring cities. They are colorful, dazzling, shimmering and noisy.

Still I find that after 5 to 10 minutes, my attention wanders and I tend to stop looking. Are explosions and bangs just a childish pleasure? Or do these displays last too long? Or perhaps nowadays there are too many competing events to attend to.

Fireworks were developed in China in the second century BC. (Sometimes it seems to me the Chinese invented everything.) These displays were used to celebrate births, weddings, coronations and deaths In 200 B.C. people roasted bamboo stalks till they sizzled and exploded.

Bamboo Chute Fireworks

But then they got smart, and 800 years later, between 600 and 900 A.D., they started filling the bamboo with gun powder and the big bang was born. They added metal salts to achieve the brilliant colors. This was all done to scare off evil spirits of course.

In this country Capt. John Smith set off the first fireworks in Jamestown, Virginia in 1608, and the first Independence Day fireworks display was in Philadelphia in 1777.John Adams said that he hoped that the anniversary of Independence would always be marked by guns and bonfires. So it was for a while, but these were eventually replaced by fireworks.

In France, fireworks are traditionally used to celebrate July 14 French Independence Day. This year, displays were held in Lyon, Nantes, Marseille and many other cities. In Paris, because of crowd restrictions due to the pandemic, the display was started at the foot of the Eiffel Tower and lasted for 30 minutes. People were encouraged to watch from a distance, from their balconies. The display was dedicated to the “heroic daily fight against the corona virus”

Fireworks will continue to exist as long as the inner child in us keeps wanting them.

I’ll close with a Debussy prelude called “Feux d’Artifice.” (fireworks in French) This is a magnificent performance by Marc-Andre Hamelin. You don’t need to see the fireworks…you can hear them.  This same piece was played in Paris on July 14th with colorful light reflections dancing in the River Seine. (lots of youtube of that available if you are interested)