Here's a video I took with my digital camera at 7.30pm on New Year's Eve. I am walking along my street here in The Netherlands. Something I still can't wrap my head around is that people here are allowed to put off their own fireworks on New Year's Eve. I'm not talking about just sparklers either. Does this sound like sparklers?!
Keep in-mind when viewing this video that the microphone on my digital camera is really tiny so the sound is somewhat dulled. I took a video of the sidewalk as I walked down the street in front of my house. It is possible to make-out my shoes, the sound of my jeans, and my turning around to head back towards the house. I didn't try to capture anything else visually for a few reasons. Partly because the fireworks put off in the hours and days before and after midnight on New Year's Eve are mainly loud in nature and don't offer much to see. They just sound like what I imagine a bomb would sound like. I also didn't want to draw the attention of the people putting off the fireworks - in this case a group of five teenage boys a few doors down from our house, and two sets of boys 15-20 years old at both ends of our street. I've experienced fireworks being thrown at on-lookers or passerbys or having boys on bicycles ride down the street and throw fireworks at-random at pedestrians.
I can't decide whether it's best to just stay out of the country for New Year's Eve or to stay home and keep a protective eye on our house and car as fireworks are haphazardly detonated and fly under cars, out into the street, or hit the front door and window of our house. According to a 2001 article by "Voices of Holland", an estimated ten million kilos, worth around forty-five million euros, is exploded on January 1 each year by private citizens. And, amazingly, only one percent of the population, about twelve hundred people, is injured. I wish they'd take hearing lose into consideration or damage to private property.
The "Voices" article also explained that the origins of the Dutch fireworks tradition lies in the early trade contacts with China, where, about two thousand years ago, the explosive mixture of saltpeter, sulphide and charcoal dust was discovered. As early as the seventeenth century, Dutch merchant fleets brought home decorative fireworks from the Far East, which was popular among the well-to-do middle classes. But, until the beginning of the previous century in, for instance, Amsterdam, the New Year would be marked by firing a few small canons. Elsewhere, people would go no further than igniting carbide in milk cans in order to frighten evil spirits. The ‘democratization’ of luxury decorative fireworks did not start for real until after the Second World War.
Gratefully, my Dutch husband finds the letting off anything more than a sparkler to be a waste of money. And, to be honest, from the right vantage point, New Year's Eve can be pretty spectacular to watch. There is a countdown here televised on three of the major channels so fireworks are relatively synchronized. We rang in the new year with two friends at their house. From their third floor windows, we had a view for miles around against a backdrop of a canal lined with traditional Dutch houses. Our friend, Christiaan filmed this video with his webcam. I think the fireworks went on for about an hour like this. All and all, it was pretty amazing and I found myself running from window to window oohing and aahing. Good wine, a nice meal, and champagne helped.
Happy New Year!
