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Archive for the ‘History of Fireworks’ Category

Or is it the most amazing rocket rack you have ever seen?

This is hardcore stuff. Found in an old book dating from 1668, this was the way to make fireworks at the time. What you see here are digitized images taken straight from the book, which was entitled: Lettres a une princesse d’Allemagne sur divers sujets de physique et de philosophie. Roughly (very roughly) translated as: Letters to a German Princess on various topics in physics and philosophy.

This book was written by a man named Leonhard Euler who, presumably knew a German Princess and wrote her letters. In this book, besides talking about fireworks. He talks about such diverse things as,

• How to make dainty sport with a cat
• A speedy way to make a horse fat, plump and lusty
• To put ones finger in, or to wash it in lead
• and the classic: how (for a wager) to cleave a thin groate in sunder like two groates

Yes, all the important things a 17th century princess would want to know (PS this is all totally genuine, we are not making it up, we wish we were, but we’re not.)

The most amazing for us of course are the pages upon pages of brilliant and incredibly complicated instructions for making and using fireworks.

Heres some of the text and images from this amazing book.

Aerial shells have certainly come a long way.

Lancework (also called setpieces) were insanely dramatic it seems, with all manner of creatures being portrayed. It looks as if as much work went into the machine (the wooden device used to conceal the actual firework) as went into the fireworks themselves.

Please please please, do not try this at home, seriously. However delectable to the spectators it may seem. Pyrotechnic compositions should only be attempted by trained and qualified professionals (or 17th  century german princesses)

So that should all be clear enough, if you can have your finished results in by Monday.

There are far too many pages of these to put them all here, but here is a link to the google books source that we guarantee will keep you entertained for hours. We stress again that nothing you have read here should be attempted. Leave it to the professionals.

The man, the myth, the legend…. and now the statue.

Fireworks were discovered quite by accident many many centuries ago and they were discovered by this great man here.

This huge statue of the godfather of fireworks is part of the Fireworks museum in Liuyang City, Hunan, China. Litian is given full credit for bringing fireworks to the world and is a popular figure there. There is a shrine in the museum where hopeful pyrotechnists pray to him for good fortune and to keep all their fingers intact.

The great man himself was a monk and lived about 1000  years ago. Want to learn more about him? Epic Fireworks have got it covered. Read The origin of fireworks

Over at Bob Shea and Lane Smith’s wonderful Curious Pages blog, they’ve posted the classic Jim Flora children’s book, The Fabulous Firework Family (1955). Flora is best known for his distinctive designs for RCA and Columbia Record jackets, magazines and various commercial art projects of the 40s and 50s. The Fabulous Firework Family launched Flora’s second career as a children’s book author and illustrator.

The book was acquired by Terrytoons during the Gene Deitch era (1956-1958) and the resulting film turned out to be the last cartoon Deitch personally produced at the studio. Al Kouzel directed and, though Flora was involved with adapting the story to the screen, the final result wasn’t entirely successful in translating the charm of the original book.

It’s illuminating to compare the book to the cartoon. Below is a pan-and-scan TV version of the Terrytoon, sans credits. (The original CinemaScope version of the film, with full credits, will be screened March 2nd at my Wide Screen Cartoons program at the CineFamily/Silent Movie Theatre).

The Catherine wheel is a type of firework which is generally made of a spiralling tube filled with pyrotechnic composition, or an angled rocket mounted with a pin through its centre. When ignited, it rotates quickly, producing a display of sparks and coloured flame and looks great at the bottom of the garden.

So, now we know what a Catherine Wheel is, where did it get its unusual name from?

It’s a lot more gruesome than you may think, the family favourite firework is named after the instrument of torture, the breaking wheel, on which, legend has it St. Catherine was martyred. Although some legends say that as soon as she touched the wheel it broke (that must have put the willies up the pagans – not a euphemism)

The Catherine Wheel was a product of the Middle Ages, especially popular in Germany (no comments on this please, remember we’re all friends now, one Europe and all that). The victim’s limbs were brutally smashed with large blunt objects. His (or her) still-living remains were subjected to… the wheel. This meant the mangled arms and legs were threaded through the spokes. The wheel was then hoisted into the air using a long pole. Hungry vultures and crows picked at the body. Death came slowly, (like watching an Al Murray – Pub Landlord comedy routine).

A seventeenth-century chronicler wrote the victim looked like, “A sort of huge screaming puppet writhing in rivulets of blood, a puppet with four tentacles, like a sea monster, of raw, slimy and shapeless flesh mixed up with splinters of smashed bones.” Sleep soundly kids.

This was one of the most popular spectacles of the time. This, and similar methods of torture, took place in the squares of Europe from 1450-1750. The masses, both common people and nobles, watched in twisted fascination, cheering at a good wheeling (what made it good is unclear but we guess the messier the better). A woman (or a number of women in a row) brought even greater enthusiasm, similar to women in pro-wrestling nowadays, although for quite different reasons we assume.

The wheel was named after Saint Catherine of Alexandria from the early 4th century. She was believed to have been killed in this fashion during the rule of the Roman Emperor Maximinus (presumably Maximinus was upset about people commenting that his name was somewhat similar to that of a sanitary towel – citation needed).

Catherine was born and raised a pagan, but miraculously converted to Christianity in her late teens (typical rebellious teenager). It is said that she visited her contemporary, the Roman Emperor Maximinus, and attempted to convince him of the error of his ways in persecuting Christians. She succeeded in converting his wife, the Empress, and many pagan philosophers whom the Emperor sent to dispute with her, all of whom were subsequently martyred. Upon the failure of the Emperor to win Catherine over, he ordered her to be put in prison; and when the people who visited her converted this must have really annoyed big Maximinus because she was condemned to death on the breaking wheel (the name at that time for the Catherine Wheel). According to legend, the wheel itself broke when she touched it, so she was beheaded.

You can just imagine the scene…

Sound effects: Splintering wood and crashing

Catherine: “Whoops, clumsy me, sorry bout that lads.”

First torturer: “oh, look, oh no, she has the power of God, her hand has broken the wheel, cower in fear, cower and plead for your life!”

Second torturer: “No probs, I’ll just lob ‘er ‘ead off.”

Sound effects: Swish, Splat, Thud, General Medieval style cheering.

(Dramatisation, may not have happened)

Catherine was remembered thereafter as a symbol of martyrdom, purity and knackering up the wheel she was named after. The Breaking Wheel, now known as a Catherine Wheel continued to be used for executions and all round nastiness for centuries to come and was still used right up till the 1700’s. When, thankfully, far more nasty ways of messing people up were evolved, which we will not go into here.

Please remember this is supposed to be taken lightly and in good humour, noone was tortured during the writing of this article so please don’t write in. For all your Catherine Wheel needs, visit www.epicfireworks.com for the largest range of fireworks in the UK.

Black and white fireworks from Sasha Bogatova on Vimeo.

A bit of nostalgia for all the Americans out there.