It is said that firecrackers originated from firecrackers. Since ancient times, there has been a saying that a long time ago, a beast named Nian appeared on the night of Lunar New Year's Eve every year, in order to scare away this beast.

So people burn bamboo knots at home (or stick red objects outside the house). Because the air in the bamboo cavity is heated and expanded, the bamboo cavity bursts and makes a loud noise, thus driving away the Nian beast. With the invention of gunpowder, gunpowder firecrackers replaced the past bamboo firecrackers.

2. Legend 2

A long time ago, there lived a terrible monster named Nian in the sea. Nian comes out on New Year's Eve every year, eating people or poultry and livestock makes people miserable. People are very afraid of him. The day before New Year's Eve, an old beggar came to an old lady's house and begged her. She kindly gave him a bowl of rice.

He said sadly, "Alas! Tomorrow is coming, and we will definitely not live! " The old beggar shook his head, looked at the old lady's red dress and said, "Nian is afraid of red and firecrackers. Tomorrow, you put on red clothes and put red Spring Festival couplets on your door. You can set off firecrackers as soon as the year is over, and you can avoid disaster. "

When we came the next year, we all set off firecrackers together. The sound of firecrackers scared Nian away. People will set off firecrackers every New Year's Eve and never come again.

3. Legend 3

Shan Gui with one leg: Legend has it that a long time ago, "there was a man in the western hills, more than a foot long and more than a foot high. They are not afraid of people, but they are hot and cold when committing crimes. There is bamboo in the fire, and the fire screams and regrets. " This is a fairy tale about firecrackers, the predecessor of firecrackers. So firecrackers are also called firecrackers in some places.

Extended data

The Chronicle of Jingchu records: "On the first day of the first month, chickens crowed in front of the court and set off firecrackers to avoid evil spirits in the mountains. The legend of Shan Sao is a monster in the western mountainous area. It is more than a foot high and has one foot. It is never afraid of people. People will catch a cold, have a fever and get sick. If the bamboo tube burns in the fire and crackles, Mrs. Shan will flee quickly in surprise and fear.

It can be seen that firecrackers were an audio tool to drive away plagues and evil spirits in ancient times. The same statement was verified in Nerve. In ancient times, people slept in the mountains. Usually light a bonfire at night, one is to cook and keep warm, and the other is to prevent wild animals from invading. Light a bonfire and you will deal with ordinary animals.

However, there is an animal in the mountains, which is not afraid of people or fire, and often steals food while people are unprepared. The animal mentioned here is called "sister-in-law". In order to deal with this animal, people thought of setting off firecrackers in the fire to drive it away. Shan Sao can make people suffer from cold and heat, and it is a ghost that makes people suffer from cold and heat. Scare away the mountain Sao, you can drive away the plague and keep Geely safe.

In the early Tang Dynasty, plagues were everywhere. A man named Li Tian put saltpeter in a bamboo tube and lit it to make it emit louder sound and stronger smoke. As a result, the miasma in Shan Lan was dispelled and the epidemic was stopped. This is the earliest prototype of firecrackers.

Later, gunpowder appeared, and people burned saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal in bamboo tubes, resulting in an "explosion war." In the Song Dynasty, people in China began to make "guns" (that is, firecrackers) with paper tubes and hemp sticks wrapped in gunpowder.

With the passage of time, firecrackers are more and more widely used, and there are more and more varieties and colors. Liuyang in Hunan, Foshan and Dongyao in Guangdong, Yichun and Pingxiang in Jiangxi, Wenzhou in Zhejiang and Pucheng in Weinan are the famous "hometown of fireworks" in China.