Fireworks are an essential part of the Independence Day festivities in America, but do you know why it’s popular to celebrate July 4th with a bang?
The vision of tradition dates back to 1776, when John Adams imagined that a bright sky would honor the 13 independent colonies that would soon become independent each year in a July 3 letter to his wife, Abigail.
Fireworks explode over the Lincoln Memorial during the July 4 celebrations in Washington, DC on July 4, 2019.
(Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / AFP via Getty Images)
“I am willing to believe that it will be celebrated, by successive generations, as the great anniversary festival …,” wrote the future president, according to the National Archives. “It should be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Campfires and Illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time onwards forever.”
WHITE HOUSE ANNOUNCES PLANS FOR THE JULY CELEBRATION ROOM
A general aerial view of Coors Field as fans fill the garden during a fireworks show after a game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants at Coors Field on July 4, 2018 in Denver, Colorado.
(Dustin Bradford / Getty Images)
The Declaration of Independence was finally adopted by the Second Continental Congress the following day. While some public readings of the statement were met with “impromptu celebrations” by the local militia in Pennsylvania and New Jersey on July 8, a formal fireworks display would not light up the sky for another year, according to History.com.
The patriotic revelry rocked the first organized July 4 celebrations in Philadelphia in 1777, and the fireworks dramatically shut down the night.
43rd Annual Macy’s July 4 Fireworks on July 4, 2019 in New York City.
(Gotham / WireImage)
“The night closed with the sound of the bells,” the Pennsylvania Evening Post reported at the time, “and at night there was a large fireworks display (which started and ended with thirteen rockets) in the Commons, and the city. it was beautifully lit. “
FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS
“Everything was done with the greatest order and decorum, and the face of joy and happiness was universal.”
A view of fireworks over the Philadelphia Museum of Art during Wawa Welcome America July 4 Concert at Benjamin Franklin Parkway on July 4, 2019 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
(Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty Images)
The city of Boston also started fireworks on July 4, 1777, and the rest, as they say, is history.
The fireworks were available for sale to the public in 1783, Farmer’s Almanac reports, and the tradition has lived on ever since, in a grand way. According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, Americans spent more than $ 1 billion on fireworks last year.
CLICK HERE FOR CONTINUOUS COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUSES FROM FOX NEWS
