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Fireworks have been entertaining the easily entertained since the Han Dynasty of ancient China (206 B.C. to 220 A.D.). So it's difficult to figure out exactly who invented (or "discovered") the finger-maiming explosives. However, we can explain why they're so big on Independence Day. According to this page from InventHelp, the first fireworks were bamboo rods lit on fire. Rather than being used for celebrations, they were used for exhortations -- their loud sounds were believed to ward off evil spirits. "Modern fireworks" didn't explode onto the scene until the Chinese invented gunpowder many years
later. In the following centuries, fireworks caught fire in Europe, before the United States (then just colonies) proudly and publicly got in on the fun. The first Independence Day celebration took place in 1777, one year after the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Again, according to InventHelp, fireworks "helped steel the early Americans' resolve and gave them a common feeling of patriotism." And though the sight of bottle rockets in the hands of children is enough to make some mothers renounce their citizenship, the tradition has continued ever since.
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