Definition:
“Fireworks” are a type of explosive pyrotechnic device used for aesthetic and entertainment purposes. They produce a variety of effects such as bright lights, loud noises, and colorful displays, commonly used during celebrations, festivals, and significant events.
Etymology:
The term “fireworks” comes from the Old English word “fyr,” meaning “fire,” and the Middle English “werke,” meaning “work.” Combined, “fireworks” literally means “works of fire.”
Description:
Fireworks can be classified into various types based on their effects and usage:
- Aerial Fireworks: Launched into the sky, producing colorful bursts and patterns.
- Shells: Large fireworks that explode in the sky to create intricate patterns.
- Rockets: Fireworks that shoot up and explode with loud bangs and colorful displays.
- Ground Fireworks: Designed to be used on the ground, creating fountains, wheels, and spinners.
- Fountains: Emit showers of sparks from a stationary position.
- Sparklers: Handheld fireworks that burn slowly with bright, colorful sparks.
- Noise Makers: Fireworks that produce loud noises, such as firecrackers.
Fireworks are often used during celebration ceremonies, such as, New Years Eve, to mark the transition into a new year, Independence Day (e.g., July 4th in the USA), Diwali in India, the Lantern Festival in China, and Guy Fawkes Night in the UK. They are also popular to use at big sporting events and concerts.
Symbolism:
Fireworks are sex symbols. When fireworks are used symbolically in art, they tend to be rockets, because rockets are obvious phallic symbols. The explosion of the rocket symbolize ejaculation, as the explosion is the climax of lighting a rocket firework. It is also worth noting that the word “explosion” is synonymous with the word “bang,” which is synonymous with the word “sex.”
A firework carry the same symbolism as a star, symbolizing a lie. The correlation between the symbols are for example found in a poem parodying “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” from Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”: “Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you’re at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky.” The word “star” is replaced by the word “bat,” in this context meaning “explosion,” as in seeing fireworks or stars after being battered. Click to watch the video clip.
Like a star, firework symbolize a show, meaning a lie. The song and music video “Katy Perry – Firework” uses firework symbolically to mean exposure of the light within. “The light within” means “the soul,” which actually means “the fantasy.” The lyrics are promoting the behaviour of putting on a show worth watching, meaning “to lie” or “to pretend.”
You just gotta ignite the light
and let it shine.
Just own the night
like the Fourth of July.
‘Cause baby, you’re a firework.
Come on, show ’em what you’re worth.
Make ’em go, “Oh, oh, oh”
as you shoot across the sky-y-y.
Baby, you’re a firework.
Come on, let your colors burst.
Make ’em go, “Oh, oh, oh.”
You’re gonna leave ’em all in awe, awe, awe.
Religion:
Fireworks are not mentioned in the Bible, but the concept of light and celebration can be related to passages like Matthew 5:16, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Fireworks are not directly mentioned in the Quran, but the Quran speaks of light and its significance. Surah An-Nur (24:35) describes Allah as the “Light of the heavens and the earth.”
Fireworks are not mentioned in the Book of Mormon, but the text emphasizes light and celebration in various contexts, such as in Alma 26:36, which speaks of joy and thanksgiving.
Fireworks are commonly used during Diwali, the festival of lights, though Hindu texts like the Ramayana and Mahabharata focus more on the triumph of light over darkness.
Fireworks are not mentioned in Buddhist texts, but the use of light in celebrations aligns with the symbolic use of light in Buddhism, such as in the celebration of Vesak, which marks the birth, enlightenment, and death of the Buddha.