Firecrackers on Lunar New Year originated to ward off evil spirits

Fireworks usage on Independence Day comes from their celebratory use in ancient China

Burning bamboo stalks produces a small explosion that was believed to ward off evil spirits. As knowledge of fireworks, which initially used these stalks, carried over into other cultures, so did their use to promote good luck and celebration.

Firework-related celebrations include an annual summer celebration in El Salvador, where residents throw kerosene-soaked balls to commemorate a 1658 volcanic eruption

Another memorable tradition takes place in Vrontados, Greece, with people in two rival churches firing bottle rockets at each other's bell towers in an event known as the Rocket War. Yet another tradition occurs in Tainan City, Taiwan, fifteen days into the Chinese lunar calendar, with celebrants donning protective gear and attempting to get hit by fireworks—a tradition dating back to the late 1800s when residents asked the god of war for help with a raging cholera epidemic, with a similar display.

The banishment of Nian marks the origin of the Lunar New Year

After suffering for years as Nian destroys their crops and eats their children, villagers are visited by a mysterious stranger who reveals that the monster is afraid of loud noises and fire. The villagers use the information to drive Nian out, celebrating their victory every year after with fireworks, feasting, and more.

Lunar New Year is celebrated around the globe

“Lunar New Year” is a catchall term that encompasses celebrations in several Asian countries. The date of the new year can vary by location depending on which calendar—lunar, lunisolar, or solar—is being used, but many of the traditions are shared across borders.

Learn more about the history of fireworks, which dates back to an accidental invention during an alchemist's quest for information about immortality.

Eating fish during Lunar New Year is believed to bring prosperity

Many of the traditional Lunar New Year dishes are deeply symbolic—such as fried spring rolls resembling bars of gold. How the dishes are prepared, served, and eaten is crucial for carrying out their powers.

The Lunar New Year was widely celebrated until Mao Zedong and the Communist Party

In the 1960s, Mao ushered in the Cultural Revolution, an attempt to make China a more modern, industrialized nation. In keeping with this, he banned traditional holiday customs in favor of “revolutionary” actions like chanting Communist Party slogans and engaging in a “self-criticism” ceremony. These changes weren’t very popular and were quickly reversed after Mao’s death.

A New York fireworks ban necessitated a new way to ring in the New Year

In 1906, the city banned fireworks displays, forcing the Times Square celebration to find a new centerpiece. The Times commissioned Jacob Starr, a Ukrainian immigrant who worked for Strauss Signs, to develop an ornament. He returned with the now-iconic New Year’s ball.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Many New Year's Eve traditions came from German immigrants

While it’s hard to trace the origins of many New Year’s traditions, many of the norms for American New Year’s Eve celebrations come from German immigrants, who significantly influenced American culture in the 1800s. Below is an excerpt from an 1863 New York Times article describing a German New Year’s celebration.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option

Though not really silent, the displays are quieter than traditional fireworks. They may offer an attractive alternative for people who have sensory sensitivities or for pet owners. The sound from these options can be less loud than standard fireworks due to changes in chemical composition and the inclusion of a smaller lift charge that doesn't carry the fireworks as high into the air, reducing the initial bang.

Fireworks-related ER visits are on the rise—in 2024, they increased by 52% as compared to the prior year.

New Year's Eve celebrations date back to ancient Babylon

Rather than celebrating in winter, the Babylonians honored the vernal equinox, a day in late March with equal amounts of darkness and light that signaled the start of a new year. They celebrated with Akitu, an 11-day festival.

Halloween originated with the Celtic festival of Samhain

Halloween, a holiday primarily popular in the US and Canada, originated 2,000 years ago with the Celtic people. The Celts interpreted this transition as when ghosts returned to the land of the living, leading to rituals like feasts, bonfires, and wearing costumes made of animal body parts on Oct. 31.

Danish cookies became a treasured Lunar New Year gift, thanks to their unique tin container

Hong Kong experienced an economic boom in the 1970s, which led to snacking, including on Western foods, becoming a cultural norm. Kjeldsens butter cookies became a popular treat, and their packaging, a distinct tin container, presented them as more refined than a simple snack. Instead, they were considered a worthwhile present for Lunar New Year.

The ritual burns of California forests

Many ecosystems around the world have adapted to regularly occurring wildfires. Some human cultures saw the advantage of such fires and integrated them into their community rituals. Learn about similar tribal traditions looking to better manage California's forests today.

See this overview of the firework rules across all 50 states, ranging from a complete ban on non-professional fireworks in Massachusetts to states with more lax rules like Indiana.

Some believe Valentine's Day evolved from the Roman holiday Lupercalia

The festival, which took place in mid-February, featured Roman priests sacrificing a goat and using its hide to lightly slap women and the land, believing it would bring fertility. Some believe that the Catholic Church repurposed the pagan holiday as a Christian one by attaching it to a saint, but scholars are not certain that this is true.

In Ghana, newly married couples jump over a broom to ward off evil and welcome new beginnings

Weddings are surrounded by rituals, no matter how simple. These include slathering the couple with food, feathers, and soot and parading them around town in Scotland; Chinese tea ceremonies filled with gratitude; and breaking fine porcelain in Germany. Every family has their own rituals, and wealthy couples are more likely to engage in more lavish ceremonies.

Once a year, Bali goes completely silent

Every March, the Indonesian island of Bali halts all commerce, travel, and recreation for a day of silence called Nyepi. This cultural ritual purges the island of evil spirits like ego and greed.

The origins of World Laughter Day

Every first Sunday of May worldwide, World Laughter Day is observed, where people gather in public places and laugh. Dr. Madan Kataria developed the ritual based on the facial feedback hypothesis, which posits our facial expressions can affect our mood. The day, first started in 1998 in India, has grown exponentially in recent years. Meet the chortler-in-chief here.

Black cats got their frightening reputation in the Middle Ages

Though many cultures in Africa, Asia, and Europe recognize black cats as symbols of good fortune, they're associated with bad luck and America's spookiest holiday. Their association with evil didn't gain traction until the 13th century, as religious figures and European folklore drew connections between cats, Satan worshippers, and witches.

Christmas carols evolved from medieval folk songs to modern holiday staples

Christmas carols began as communal folk songs in medieval Europe, and were later adapted into religious hymns. Revived in England in the 19th century, they have become a core holiday tradition around the world.

70 years ago today, city officials in Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll to protect its youth from corruption after witnessing a 'provocative' concert the night before.

In 1639, Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony banned toasting

Like the Anglo-Saxons and the ancient Greeks before them, the American colonists tended to party when they got to toasting. That led to a 1639 law banning the practice, which they viewed as excessive and superstitious. Alcohol remained legal, but the hope was that banning toasting might reduce excessive drinking.

Scientists used to speculate about life on the moon

In the 17th century, Galileo's observations suggested the moon could be inhabited, leading to fictional speculations about lunar life. In the 19th century, stories were published claiming the discovery of various creatures, including human bats. The Apollo missions in the 20th century explored the possibility of life there, but further exploration showed this idea to be less likely than before.

The earliest earthquake detection device involved eight ball-wielding dragons

Invented in China in 132 CE, the seismoscope was an urn with dragons facing different directions. If an earthquake occurred, the dragon facing the direction of the tremor released its ball. Like modern seismographs, its mechanism may have involved a suspended weight.

Fearing the corruption of its youth, Santa Cruz, California, banned rock 'n' roll in 1956.

LSD fueled a countercultural movement before evolving into a potential therapeutic

As the use of recreational psychedelics became common, authorities were quick to claim LSD had lasting adverse effects, criminalizing the drug and halting scientific study for decades. Over time, LSD's reputation shifted from a potential source of enlightenment to a dangerous drug that could dim a person's future, and back to a possible therapeutic compound.

Ramadan moon-sighting can spark intra-family disputes

Because different communities—and even different members of the same family—follow different methods for confirming the crescent, Ramadan doesn't always start on the same day for everyone. The result: "moon wars" that pit parents against children, and mosques against each other, on when exactly the fast begins.

The first horror movie is believed to be George Méliès' 1986 short 'The Haunted Castle,' which pioneered the use of special effects

Apollo astronauts left items in the moon's 'toss zone,' including golf balls, family photos, and bags of human waste, to make room for lunar rocks.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a group of young men ate standard American food—replete with food additives like borax and formaldehyde—as part of government research to better understand food safety.

The use of fungi to detoxify land and water—a process known as mycoremediation—has been used to clean up natural resources affected by the 2025 California wildfires.

Hotels in Cannes, the glamorous city on the French Riviera, hire hawks to ward off seagulls during the city's famous film festival.

Volcanic activity may have triggered the Black Death by spewing gases that led to crop failures in Europe, thus forcing the import of grain ships with plague-infested fleas.

For centuries, it was common to sleep in two shifts: a few hours at the beginning of the night, and a longer period beginning around midnight

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

Stars appear to twinkle because turbulence in the motion of molecules in Earth's atmosphere causes light to bend and wiggle rapidly on its way to the surface—a phenomenon called scintillation.

Up to a million Girl Scouts sell about 200 million cookie boxes every spring, generating $800 million, largely because refusing a child is frowned upon

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

Visualize the path of every solar eclipse from 1900 to 2099 and see what each looks like when observed from different locations on Earth.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

Sony set the standard for cylinder-shaped batteries when it repurposed manufacturing equipment used to make rolls of magnetic recording tape.

In 2009, the nation was gripped by the story of a missing young boy who was believed to be floating over Colorado in a homemade balloon, until it was revealed that he was at home the whole time.

In 2019, a laptop loaded with six of the worst malware in history and described as 'an exhibit of historical weaponry' sold for $1.3M.

Scientists have struggled to pin down Ebola's natural reservoir species for decades, but the available evidence suggests that it's very likely fruit and insect-eating bats found in Africa.

Long before Major League Baseball began allowing instant replay for balls and strikes, an umpire reluctantly used the technology to determine whether a hit was a home run, a move that inadvertently ushered in a new era for the sport.

NBA superstar Victor Wembanyama spent the 2025 summer training with monks in central China to enhance his body and mind.

Some researchers have labeled nomophobia, the fear of being without your phone, as 'the phobia of the 21st century.'