± 1751

The Chinese discovered gunpowder around 900 and made fireworks. This knowledge ended up in Europe around 1200 via trade routes. There, the military capabilities of the explosive powder appealed. Just like in China, fireworks were also made here to add luster to events.

Bruges was honored, in 1582, with a visit from the two nobility, William of Orange and the Duke of Anjou. The duke had just been appointed lord of the land. As a spectacle, a wooden ship was placed on the market full of fireworks and tethered cats. When the firecrackers and braziers were lit and the colossus burned, the screams of the animals could be heard all over the city. Fireworks were the toys of the rich. The European royal houses competed with each other for the most beautiful fireworks. Good fireworks makers were, just like deejays now (2022), sought after and generously rewarded.

From the 17th century, small fireworks came within reach of the ordinary man. Manufacture was the domain of domestic industry. The city of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, fined fifty guilders for setting off fireworks in 1645 after it was discovered. In 1672, the mysteries of the fireworks were explained in popular booklets. The government tried to restrict the setting from fireworks, because a large city fire was always lurking.

Throwing firecrackers under the skirts of women in The Hague, Netherlands, was banned in 1702. Was New Year's Eve already noisy then, fireworks did not play the key role. Pops came from firing pistols and other weaponry. Some took a small cannon from the attic for that day. While setting off fireworks on New Year's Eve was still limited to a firecracker, it was different in the Dutch East Indies. The colony had a large Chinese community that was used to herald their own New Year with a lot of fireworks.

The practice of the Chinese community in the Dutch East Indies was enthusiastically adopted in the 19th century. Certainly, after the arms ban in the Netherlands in 1896.

In 1905 there is an article in a newspaper from Batavia (present day Jakarta), Indonesia, about the New Year's Eve celebration. It was a madhouse; all the thoughts and feelings of the inhabitants seem reduced to one purpose: setting off as many fireworks as possible. Or quiet people were hindered, or the city stank of dirty gunpowder, or horses ran wild, whether children and people got hurt, or were hurt for their lives because of the idiotic firing and popping.

It was in Appeldoorn, Netherlands, a restless New Year's Eve of 1929. Fireworks were thrown into mailboxes and at people and cars. The police had to restore order with swords drawn. After 1945, setting off fireworks became a real New Year's Eve custom in the Netherlands. Around 1952 similar scenes occurred in The Hague as in Appeldoorn of 1929.

The 1970s and 1980s were the heyday of consumer fireworks. In the beginning there was hardly any legislation. Traders imported en masse from China. Many accidents happened. The heaviest firecrackers were banned, followed immediately by the importation of illegal fireworks. It came mainly from Belgium. While the sale was subject to the necessary rules for its own citizens, these did not apply to foreigners. The Dutch, who were looking for heavy firecrackers, went to Belgium before December 31, where the Flemish willingly served them.

In 2015, shooting fireworks on New Year's Eve was added to the Dutch list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. There are now voices in favor of limiting the setting off fireworks by private individuals, heritage or not. There is already firework ban in the city center. Safety is the main argument. Regulating New Year's Eve is met with opposition from many Dutch people. If Old and New has been characterized by anything here for centuries, it is cheerful anarchism.