Meaning Behind All the Boom Boom

Meaning Behind All the Boom Boom

      On their base level, fireworks in a celebration are nothing more than fireworks.  A final layer of spectacular glam to top off a day of celebration.  The Chinese had been using fireworks as an element of celebrations long before anyone in the west had even heard of such a thing.  The were very rarely used by them for war (there were only a few recorded instances of using rockets, but that was just to light up the night sky so that archers could see where to send a massive volley of arrows).  Once in a great while they were used to explode a fortified wall or gate.  For them the sounds of fireworks did not conjure up any images for them other than the image of fireworks.  

      When gunpowder was introduced to the west, however, that changed, but very slowly.  During the early-middle years of the Islamic culture both education and tolerance were highly valued.  So also were commerce and travel.  When the Europeans thought the world looked like a disk cut in half and two quarters, the Islamic society had accurate maps all the way from south-east China to south-west Europe.  Their ships traveled extensively through the Indian Ocean, and the Mediterranean and Black Seas.  They also plied the waters of the land locked Caspian Sea too.  In their travels they learned things.  They brought back books - many books, and they had them copiously translated.  Some of their libraries were so huge that they were not surpassed in size until the end of the 19th Century.  The libraries at Alexandria and Granada were the biggest.  Among those books were writings that included a description of how to make gunpowder. 

                                Two Medieval European Maps of the World

      Their tolerance at that time also allowed the occasional wanderer from Europe to come and visit those libraries.  Those who were the scientific thinkers of European society (and often shunned for doing so) would occasionally make the trek down to see these libraries.  Most often their visits were to the library at Granada, since that was the easiest one to get to.  These men were called alchemists or even sometimes wizards.  Most of these men were as close to being real scientists as European society then would allow, and some of them were just plain weird guys.  In the library at Granada some of them found those gunpowder recipes, which they translated into their own languages.  Some of the more secretive ones translated into their own made up languages and alphabets.  Thankfully for the historian some of the translations have survived - translations written by guys who weren't really weird.  
      "Grind charcoal into a powder.  Mix three parts ground charcoal with one part ground brimstone, and add to that two parts of the white crystals that grow on a stable wall.  Carefully grind them all together with water to make a thick paste.  Spread this paste into a thin sheet, and let it dry.  When it is completely dry carefully grind it into granules, and keep it far away from all heat or flame."  
      It was slow to catch on, but that recipe seriously changed the entire world's history.  The simple recipe has been altered and perfected quite a lot since then, but it still has the same three basic ingredients.  The ratios changed by quite a bit. 
      The explosive power of gunpowder was tested in new innovations.  During the Hundred Years Wars in the Battle of Orleans it was used to hurl giant rocks and boulders at the fortifications.  They thought this could be an easier alternative to the trebuchet, which took so long to set up.  The catapult and siege onager were large and bulky, and slow to move.  They used long wooden barrels as the first cannons (that's why they are called gun barrels today).  Well, they did more damage to their own army than they did to the enemy's walls.  They killed their own men and gun crews when these wooden cannons blew up in their faces.  Nevertheless, everyone saw the potential, and the new arms race was on.  Improvements were made again and again. 

                                Cannons at the Battle of Orleans

      By the latter 18th Century, during the time of the American Revolution there was no thought of going to war without gunpowder based weapons.  Not even among the various Native nations who lived around and among them. 
      When the "Revolution" began the last thing anyone here wanted was to become a nation separate from Britain.  In its most simplistic terms the "incident" began as an argument surrounding taxes.  Previous to the French and Indian War the colonists were not taxed.  Not at all.  The mother country wanted the colony to be able to thrive, so their fellow British citizens back home had to bear the colonials' share of the tax burden.  When young, brash Col. Washington almost singlehandedly brought the Seven Years War to the North American continent that policy had to change.  First of all many high ranking people from England saw first hand how well off the colonies had become.  The colonies had advanced to a point that they could now afford to pay their fair share.  Secondly, the war (caused by a colonial) cost the British citizens a lot of money, and the colonies should pay their fair share.  
      The colonies responded like a teenager who has gotten too big for his/her breeches.  "If you think we've grown up enough to pay taxes, then we've grown up enough to have our own members of Parliament."  It's like the parent who says, "You need to show some responsibility around here first, then I can grant you some more privileges."  Then the kid replies with something like, "If you let me use the car whenever I want, then I will show you responsibility.  Besides, you're not always responsible!"  
      Yes, it as a battle of wills within the family.  These British citizens of North America were actually proud to be part of Great Britain.  They were a part of the greatest empire on earth.  They had beaten out the Dutch, the Spanish, and finally the French.  They were on top.  They just wanted to be treated like an adult, without having to show the responsibilities of an adult (can any of you parents relate?).  
      The situation was amplified by three rabble rousers who had personal interests of their own - a brewer, a silversmith who fancied himself as a journalist, and a smuggler.  Add to that there was a whole group of men who thought that if a parliamentary position should be created for the colonies, then "that man should be me."  Some of them even, without one drop of royal blood thought they should be in the House of Lords.  
      Lexington and Concord was a complete cluster.  The colonials were not organized and were little more than a mob, and the British commander on the scene lost control of his own troops.  The family argument took a turn for the worse.  That was like the rebellious teenager who, God help him, slaps his mom, and in turn gets the crap beat out of him by his dad.  Restoration is now a difficult process at best.  
      By the time of Breed's Hill the Continental Congress were still attempting to seek restoration, but "dad" was really mad.  There was at the time of the battle a ship still en route to London with letters seeking that restoration.  The Continental Army was flying a flag that still had the Union Jack in the corner (it was to them more like a shire flag, with its own individuality, but still under the Crown and part of Great Britain).  The colonials placed the blame for the increased conflicts on the British commanders acting on their own.  

                         Flag of Continental Congress one of the flags flown by the Colonials

      Overnight, the colonials erected bunkers and other fortifications on Breed's Hill made out of bundles of sticks (called faggots).  They had enough of these "faggots" stacked together that they could not only stop musket balls, but even cannon balls.  This is why the battle is also called Bunker Hill.  The colonial British killed or wounded almost half of the British regular forces that day, but they were still greatly outnumbered.  The British regulars continued to march up that hill until they finally overwhelmed the rebels.  All the black powder fired that day made so much smoke that the sun was blotted out and the rebels had to feel their way out to escape. 
      The battle that day made restoration impossible, so after a year the Continental Congress drafted a Declaration of Independence, that was signed and ratified on July 4th, 1776.  
      When the fireworks are lit off in celebration and memorial of this, there is meaning behind all that boom boom and thick smoke.  When you hear the big booms, think of the eight, ten, and twelve pounder cannons being fired.  When some of the fireworks have a secondary series of small explosions, think about the volleys of muskets that were fired.  When you see the thick smoke blotting out the stars and maybe even the moon, think about the soldiers on both sides of this family fight gone bad feeling their way through the bunkers on Breed's Hill.  When you hear this and see this think of Camden, and  Brandywine, and Freeman's Farm (Saratoga), many other places, and Yorktown.  
      Yes, they are sometimes just fireworks, but they have much more meaning than that. 

                                 Battle of Bunker Hill/Breed's Hill