playing with firecrackers



while the adults had their firecracker wars, we, children, had our own fun playing with sticks of firecrackers. it would not have been much fun for us to light of one whole packet of firecrackers. instead, we would play with single stick of firecrackers. there were a number of fun ways playing with firecrackers.

for us, we had the mini version of the red firecrackers. these 2.5cm firecrackers for children were usually green in colour. the circumference and diameter were correspondingly smaller than the normal ones. the sound produced by these short sticks was nowhere as thunderous as the big bangers.

in an act of sheer bravado, we would hold the stick of firecracker at arm's length with our thumb and forefinger. we would either light it ourselves or got someone else to light the fuse for us. the only harm or pain that we would experience would be a slight sting at the tips of the two fingers holding the firecracker.

one way of playing with the unexploded firecrackers that we had picked up was to let them off one at a time. sometimes, we placed the firecracker stick in a standing position on the ground, lighted it and quickly covered it with a tin can. the resulting explosion would throw the tin into the air. or we would step on the tin before it could fly off and got a muted sound.

as children we also played with more dangerous explosives like the double bangers. these are oversized firecrackers which produced two sounds, 'pong' followed by 'pak'. so, we gave it the name 'pong pak'.

although i did not sustain any injury while playing with firecrackers, i knew of some friends and neighbours who suffered injuries to their fingers and hands. once, when i went to watch a firecracker war, i had one lighted packet thrown onto my back but i was none the worse for it.

firecrackers & cny before 1972

when the letting off of fireworks was completely banned in august 1972, it seemed like a part of the festive mood was extinguished. those of us who grew up during the pre-fireworks ban era found it hard, initially, to accept chinese new year without the noise, smoke, smell and red carpet of shredded paper that wrapped the low explosives.

the chinese believed that the lighting of firecrackers scared off evil spirits and attracted the god of wealth to their doorsteps. so, to welcome the lunar new year, on the eve and to send off the new year, on the 15th day, there were firecracker wars all over the island. throughout the other fifteen days of celebration, there would be sporadic firing of crackers.

shop-owners on the same side of the street or on opposite side would try and outdo and outlast each other by firing more packets of firecrackers than their competitor. sometimes, there could be more than two or three businessmen joining in the fray, especially in the business area of north bridge road.

the firecrackers were stringed together into a long chain, sometimes a few storeys long, and then fired. at the same time or following that, packets of firecrackers would be lighted and thrown onto the road outside the shop.

when the 'firing' stopped, the spectators, especially children, would rush into the pile of shredded papers to hunt for unexploded sticks or packets of firecrackers.

the start of the chinese new year was signalled by the lighting of firecrackers at the stroke of midnight on new year's eve.