Firecracker

The Chinese, however, had employed pyrotechnic mixtures long before this date. Ancient manuscripts describe explosive bombs, which were fired from giant catapults, and burst on landing or in the air. Similar missiles were merely dropped on the enemy from fortress walls. Firecrackers were often in early times, just as they are now, to scare away evil spirits from wedding and birth celebrations and from funerals, and they were also much in evidence at various religious festivals. These crackers were often made by packing gunpowder in to bamboo cases or rolled paper tube, so laying the foundations of modem firework manufacture. They exploded when thrown on to the fire, hence the origin of the name “firecracker”.

It is probable that first gunpowder was formed when, quite by chance, charcoal, saltpeter and sulphur were brought together. Traditionally, the Chinese are credited with the discovery at a time well before historical records. Certainly the evidence suggests that gunpowder originated in the east.