Please watch the fireworks
As an ancient and beautiful invention, fireworks are not only a way for people to celebrate festivals, but also have been frequently appearing in various literary and artistic works.
This issue of Moon Companion Poetry Window takes you into the poetic world of fireworks and invites you to watch a fireworks show in poetry.
The earliest appearance of fireworks is not available, as far as the origin of fireworks is concerned, the Han Dynasty has a hundred opera performances in the program of "swallowing knives and spitting fire", and there are also in the Western Han Dynasty "Huainanzi".
The technique of spitting fire with thunder comes from the house of Wanbi.
Here "thunder" describes the sound of firecrackers, and "spitting fire" describes the effect of spraying. This kind of "fire-spitting" illusion show is the prototype of fireworks, and the main application scenario was used by alchemists at that time to "show off their skills" and add mystery to their illusion performances.
The Sui Dynasty also had verses depicting fireworks, and Emperor Yang Guang of the Sui Dynasty also mentioned fireworks in his poems describing the Lantern Festival:
The lamps and trees shine with thousands of lights, and the flowers and flames bloom.
The rising fireworks are likened to the branches of the flowers that spread, and countless beams of light illuminate the night sky, giving people a sense of brilliance and brightness. Xin Qiji's "A Thousand Trees Blooming in the Oriental Night" may also have the shadow of this poem.
In the Song Dynasty, the technology of fireworks was more mature, and fireworks of different colors and categories appeared: five-color fireworks, starting wheels, wiring, meteors, ground mice, fireworks screens, and so on. On this basis, fireworks in the Song Dynasty evolved into various art performance forms, and professional pyrotechnic workshops and pyrotechnic technicians appeared. Fireworks are not only a common form of folk entertainment, but also an important ritual and ritual in official occasions, used to celebrate various important festivals and banquets.
At the end of the recently hit TV series "Flowers", Hu Ge played Ah Bao and Tang Yan played Miss Wang, who agreed to spend the New Year together and watch fireworks five years later when they met at the end of Wei. Five years later, across the Huangpu River, they witnessed the brilliant fireworks in front of the Oriental Pearl Tower. This grand fireworks is not only an agreement between the two characters in the play, but also a symbol of the completion of the Oriental Pearl and the arrival of a new era. The scene of the fireworks blooming in the play also uses real historical information, and the memories of the people in the play also coincide with the memories of history in an instant, awakening the common experience of people in the 90s.
However, with the development of the city, in the most dense urban areas, the behavior of private fireworks is easy to cause various safety problems, and a large number of fireworks have also caused a certain impact on the environment. With the release of the latest fireworks regulations in Guangzhou this year, setting off fireworks at the specified time and in the specified area may become a more reasonable way to set off fireworks.
Setting off firecrackers during the Chinese New Year will not be a luxury, and people in the new century can say goodbye to the old and welcome the new year in the sound of firecrackers. There is more novelty for the children and more memories for the adults. The sound of firecrackers again and again is the Chinese's annotation of the taste of the New Year and a good wish for overcoming difficulties in the new year.
The beauty of fireworks lies not only in a moment in the night sky, but also in everyone's heart.
When we see the fireworks go off, we may recall the past year, be grateful for the beauty of the moment, and love this world full of poetry and love even more.
What do fireworks mean to you?
In 2024, let's watch a fireworks together.