Sunday 23 January 2011

If Lunar New Year without fireworks

What do you think? If people turn on the CDs which record of firecracker sounds instead of setting on fire on the real fireworks during the banquets, business openings, or other celebrations. If the Thai government is not allow to use firecrackers when the popular festivals come such as Loy Krathong festival. How do you feel? It makes people have a good feeling if that celebration without a beautiful light from fireworks.

According to the article “Taipei residents urged to use CDs not Firecrackers” in BBC News that the Taipei officials has begun urging residents to celebrate the Lunar New year festival by CDs which record of fireworks sounds replace in setting off the real thing. They claim that firecrackers have a large amount of noise, air and ground pollution when the tradition of setting off firecrackers. Firecrackers can be heard on the island at all hours during the 15-day Lunar New Year period and that sound like explosions. And the air is filled with a smoky smell and the ground is littered with tiny scraps of red paper. Therefore, the Taipei government has offered another way to their people to celebrate the Lunar New Year celebration.

After I finished this article that I thought it is bizarre and how people can get the same feeling in festival when they turn on the CDs sounds instead of real fireworks. It is not satisfaction to Taipei people because festival is not the same everyday. They want to set on fire on firecrackers because they belief it can drive away bad luck and welcome the new years. Actually, they don’t have a strong reason for prohibition. The officials can clean tiny scraps of red paper and sounds and smells are gone after the celebration finish. If they have a serious injured who were damaged by exploded of firework, so it is enough to ban. For example, during in Loy Krathong festival in Thailand, every year people have hurt by fireworks. In Thailand, many patients have a serious problem by fireworks such as lost arm, blind, and some cases have died. The main problem is teenagers toss firecrackers inside crowed for fun. Sometimes they do not think about the others they just want to excite and happy to them. Firecrackers like a beautiful objects it has serious poison if you get near it. Because fireworks have many classifies of power that it makes different power and light. Most problems have occurred by a big size of fireworks that it can kill people like bomb. Therefore, in Thailand should be ban some types of fireworks to protect people get hurt from it.

However, I am someone does not like to go to Loy Krathong festival because I really afraid about fireworks, I prefer setting off firecrackers more than playing CDs sound of fireworks when we celebrate special times as New Year. Because I don’t like pretending and I don’t know how bad luck is far away from my life. I know that it is just belief, but belief can make a strong concept to people. For instance, if you belief something you can do, so you can do it even though it is difficult like studying in English language. But you cannot do it if you lack of belief and confidence.



References

Sui, C. (2011, January 21). BBC News. Retrieved January 21, 2011 from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12249080.

8 comments:

  1. As I was reading her well done summary, I was thinking the same thing that Nid writes in her response: it sounds weird to suggest that a CD is anything like the real fireworks.

    When I was a child, we used to have cracker night. I think to celebrate the Queen's birthday (the British one, who is also the Australian one), but it was a long time ago, and my memory is sketchy. Anyway, it was a great fun and a healthy family activity. Because we lived in the country, our city cousins would come with their parents. We would have a big barbecue outside, and as night fell, we would start letting off our fireworks.

    I don't know what our parents thought of it all, but I suspect they enjoyed themselves as much as we kids did, perhaps the food and drink more than the fireworks. They were very watchful, ready to stop and punish any dangerous behaviour, and we loved watching the colourful displays, listening to the booms, painting in the dark with sizzlers and even throwing what really were dangerous explosives. We never had an accident, but I guess it was always a risk. Certainly, there were accidents every year, but I don't think that many; still, do-gooding busy bodies intent on forcing everyone to be perfectly safe managed to persuade the government to ban the fire works on health and safety grounds, which immediately killed off a traditional family activity and removed a very valuable learning experience for everyone.

    It's exactly the same bad (unjust) reasoning that causes governments today to ban smoking in restaurants, and that prevents people taking a whole set of risks that they might enjoy and which might contribute to their lives for whatever reason. I think the next thing to be banned should be pork, which is unhealthy because of the high fat content, and should therefore be illegal and totally banned since it is bad for people.

    Nice post Nid. It brought back some happy memories of my childhood.

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  2. P.S.
    I don't much like Loy Krathong either - much too crowded when I've gone, although I do enjoy the fireworks.

    And much as I love living in Thailand, I usually choose Songkran as a convenient time to have my annual visit to Australia. Silom Road is not very inhabitant friendly for those few days.

    But I'm very happy for every one who does enjoy those festivals to be happy doing whatever as long as they don't actually hurt anyone else.

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  3. It’s a bit sad that Taipei shuts down the real fireworks. Because all activities are exotic. I like a smoky smell a red paper from firecrackers. As their reasons, it reminds me the Chinese New Year in 2009 in Beijing China and I think this event have signaled the Taipei government to stop the real firecrackers more or less. At that time, the Chinese stopped working as usual and started celebrating with the firecrackers and the fireworks then some pieces of the fireworks spread around and fire quickly spread through the under construction building, TVCC building. It had a large amount of damage.

    For Loy Krathong festival, I had a bad experience with fireworks. Could you imagine I have smoke from my ears and nose? But I still like to set off fireworks and to see the big one from far distance.

    Peter (@January 23, 2011 9:29 PM),
    Me neither, but the last year I had to go out to see my friends at Silom Road. It’s such a great time when I had a liquid powder in my hand and touched on someone’s cheek. I were a crazy girl. ( The important thing is Silom Road in this festival is the safe place for me, a girl.)

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  4. I think this is such a nice idea. While we will be traveling on a spaceship to another planet, after the world explosion. Perhaps, they should broadcast live fire work picture while they playing that CDs to add eye sense.

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  5. As I live near the Chopraya river. Every year in Loy Krathong festival, i normally flood my Krathong around neighborhood which are crowed and people whom loves to play firework always there. When i was very young it seem beautiful and excited toys for me. i asked my parent to buy it for me every years. Looking at a beautiful flicker sparking light in the sky was very enjoyable thing to do in the festival but I was not allowed to light my own fireworks.

    Many years pass, I feel that fireworks has had a very annoying noisy sound which disturbing me ever years. i still love to watch it from my house area but i don't like to play it anymore.

    i think my dog doesn't like it either because it barging all night and my new activities is finding the solution to shut my dog's mouth to maintain relationship among the neighborhood in every years, I still wondering why other dogs used to it except mine.

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  6. Num,
    Our family dogs used to retire to the safety of their kennels when we were throwing firecrackers, but only after getting their share of the barbecue. They were, and are, very fond of steak and bacon.
    And after my parents were about 70, they became a bit more relaxed about the dogs' privileges. Our dogs never used to be allowed in the house when I was a child, but they seem welcome at all hours these days. But my mother is also far more tolerant of my nieces wiping chocolate on her cream curtains than I remember her being when I did anything like that.

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  7. Although to stop using firework is good for environment, I still prefer to see it in the festivals. Firework makes the festivals interesting and it is also one thing which attacts people to go to the festivals. Many people including me look forward to seeing the firework because it make us happy and enjoy to celebrate.

    Is it better if we develop the firework to be safe and eco-friendly?

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  8. From your post, I am another one that does not like the sound of fireworks but I do like to see them launching to the sky. Like Gift, I look forward to see the fireworks shows in many festivals, especially celebration of our King’s birthday and Loykratong festival. There are many ways to solve the problems rather than asking people to hear only sound of them such as limiting number of fireworks in each house or family and monopolizing trade of all kinds of fireworks to shops with license from the government only. Thus, it is not reasonable at all to such request. Maybe, this request is a survey from Taiwan government in order to consider whether they will issue laws to prohibit using of fireworks in the future or not. If it is, it is reasonable to do so.

    Moreover, Gift, I think it could be brilliant if someone could improve the safety of fireworks and also its effects such as noise and air pollution. As we can see from news for long period of time that fireworks can cause people to death. However, there is still no improvement in fireworks and no any action from the government also. This may be a small case in the view of them. In contrast, it may become big issue until a fatal accident caused by fireworks appears on the first page of every newspaper. Then, they will realize how important the problems are.

    ReplyDelete

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