The long river of time flows slowly
Many things have gradually faded from people's sight to complete their mission
But there are some more
Original old objects of ancestors
We are right about them
Often turn a blind eye
But they are always together
They have been baptized over thousands of years
It's still timeless
It is as if time and wisdom have condensed
Cultural amber
Author: Party / Broadcaster: Liao Xinhao
Speaking of the "New Year's flavor" of Chinese, the most intense is the fireworks. When the Spring Festival bell rings and the night sky is lit by a firecracker with a fiery red, the whole world boils. The brilliance in the eyes, the explosion in the ears, the smoke in the nose, no matter where you are, fireworks and firecrackers will bring a sense of belonging to the Chinese.
Firecrackers, the crystallization of the wisdom of Chinese ancestors, are very representative inventions, and its origin is very long, and it has undergone a long evolution for thousands of years. If the firecracker is given life, then its great-grandparents are fire, its ancestors are bamboo, its fathers are gunpowder, and the children and grandchildren of firecrackers are "talented", and "children and grandchildren are infinitely poor".
Firecrackers originated from the ancient people's worship of fire, which accelerated the process of human civilization. The ancients would roast fires around the fire in the cold winter, the burning grass and trees expanded and burst, and the fire and crackling sound would scare away the beasts. In addition, winter epidemics are prevalent, and roasting fires can also dispel plagues and drive away plagues.
Firecrackers, as the name suggests, are bursting bamboo. The ancients found that if you throw bamboo into the fire, the bamboo will explode with a "boo" sound, and people will be frightened, not to mention ghosts.
Folklorists believe that firecrackers originated from the "firecracker sacrifice" activities that already existed in the pre-Qin period. "Explosion" means burning, but it is different from ordinary fire, and the "explosion sacrifice" must make a sound when burning. This is a popular way of "using fire" in the pre-Qin dynasty.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, on the first day of the first lunar month every year, the whole family had the custom of getting up early to burn bamboo in the courtyard to drive away monsters and evil spirits. In the Ancient Book of the Southern Dynasty, "The Chronicle of the Jingchu Years", there is the earliest record of firecrackers: "On the first day of the first month, the chickens chirped. Firecrackers are placed before the court to avoid evil spirits. ”
During the Sui and Tang dynasties, Taoism prevailed, and people in the world refined Dan and took food, vainly trying to transform into immortals, but unexpectedly harvested the method of making black powder.
The "Siku Quanshu" records that in the Song Dynasty, "Chinese New Year's Eve firecrackers smell each other, or use sulfur as explosives, and the sound is particularly strong, which is called a blasting battle." "Here it is clearly mentioned that sulfur is used as explosives and detonated in a bamboo tube. Since then, the original firecrackers have been upgraded and entered the "2.0 era".
With the continuous improvement of the ratio of black powder and the increase in flammability, the Song people also developed a fuze made of hemp, so the paper roll firecracker came into being, which is the prototype of modern firecrackers. The advent of paper roll artillery warfare reduced the danger of firing. In the notebook "Miscellaneous Continuations" written by Wang Junyu of the Song Dynasty, "Children Put Paper Cannons" says exactly this phenomenon, and a post-break sentence is born: "Children put paper cannons: love and fear.".
Subsequently, fireworks were differentiated from firecrackers for a very simple reason, and it was found that squibs or flowers, although not fried, had a visual aesthetic.
Since then, China's "firecracker culture" has gradually enriched, and the fireworks have become more exquisite - the firecrackers Chinese New Year's Eve are called "closed door firecrackers", which means that after letting go of this firecracker, the family can no longer go out, and they must guard the new year together around the brazier and wait for the New Year. It is said that after the door is closed and the firecrackers are set off, the creditors cannot come to the door to collect the debts, and the poor can rest assured that the New Year will be at ease. The firecrackers fired on the morning of the first day of the first month are called "open door firecrackers", and the firecrackers on the fifth day of the first month are called "open market firecrackers", and the ancients paid special attention to the sound of firecrackers to the end, so their quality was doubly valued.
The fireworks display at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games can be described as the same brilliance of heaven and earth, with huge footprints shining in the air, firecrackers born in China's ancient civilization, step by step on the world catwalk with determination and beauty... Presumably, the ancestors of more than 2,000 years ago must not have been able to divinate the appearance of firecrackers in this life, and we cannot predict what kind of light this old object will emit thousands of years later.
Written | party
Column Consultant | Dai Dai (Senior Cultural Expert)
The Reward Uncreated Project | firecracker
The Reward Uncreated Project | firecracker
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Creative Participation:
CDS China Designer Salon, China Female Designer Salon WDS, Zhengzhou Graphic Art Design Association, Floor Wall Xi'an Designers Alliance, Nanjing Graphic Designers Alliance, Wuhan Jiuyi Creation Association, Visual Alliance, Dalian Graphic Designers Association, Heilongjiang Guanwai Design Alliance, Jilin Provincial Graphic Design Association, Shanxi Designers Club outside the city, Hangzhou Designers Salon, Chenzhou Designer Salon, Sino-Korean Designers Association, Taiwan Poster Design Association, Emblem Graphic Designers Alliance, Absolute Guizhou Creative Design Alliance, Inner Mongolia Designer Salon, Zhejiang Sea Graphic Designers Alliance, Parallel Ji Hebei Graphic Design Alliance, Shanghai Designers Club, Suzhou Graphic Designers Association, Fujian Graphic Design Association FGDA-Fuzhou, Fujian Graphic Design Association, Foshan Designers Club, Shanxi Graphic Design Society, Shenyang Creative Design Center, Asia-China-Korea Design Association, Guangzhou Graphic Designers Alliance, Shantou Graphic Design Club, Founder Font Library, Hanyi Font Library, 869 Design School, Dalian Graphic Design Alliance, Fengtian Designer Salon HGDA Hunan Graphic Designers Alliance
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Peking University School of Archaeology and Archaeology "Source Flow Movement" platform
Supporting Organizations:
School of Visual Communication Design, Shandong Academy of Arts and Crafts, Character Magic Camp, COLORPLAN + Zhengdu Paper, MOOYEE, Mengku Tea, International College of Design and Art of Inner Mongolia Normal University, Corner Tower Library, Modern Paper-cutting Art Research Institute, China Cultural Tourism Product Innovation Industry Alliance, Chenzhou Cultural Tourism Product Innovation R&D Center, HGDA Hunan Graphic Designers Alliance
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