Why can't we set off firecrackers during the Spring Festival?

The New Year Festival is an ancient traditional festival in China, and various folk customs compete to show their unique styles on this day. In the Song Dynasty, Wang Anshi's "Days in January" described the scene of the Chinese New Year and said, "Besides firecrackers, the spring breeze sends warmth into Tu Su. Thousands of households always exchange new peaches for old ones. " This poem contains three customs of the Spring Festival: setting off firecrackers, drinking Tu Su wine and changing the symbol of peaches.

Many books introduce firecrackers in detail. They were originally used by people to ward off evil spirits. "Chronicle of Jingchu's Age" says: "The first day of the first month is also the day of three yuan, and the spring and autumn are all day long, and chickens crow and firecrackers are set off in front of the court to get rid of Shan Gui." Zong Yi's book seems to have inherited what Dong Fangshuo said in the Western Han Dynasty's "Strange Classics and Wild Classics": There are many people in the Western Hills, and they are more than a foot long and naked. They catch shrimps and crabs and are not afraid of people. Stop when you meet people at night and burn shrimps and crabs at dusk. When people are not here, they steal salt and eat shrimp and crabs. It is called Shan Sao, and its voice calls itself. People are afraid when they taste bamboo on the fire. It makes people feel hot and cold. Although it is a humanoid change, it also has ghosts and the like, which are seen in the mountains today.

What Dong Fangshuo mentioned, even if there is such a thing, is probably just an animal. Later generations spread the wrong information, so firecrackers have the function of avoiding evil spirits and disasters. However, with the gradual weakening of backward consciousness, setting off firecrackers has rarely contained the elements of exorcism, but only added a happy atmosphere to the festival. With the arrival of modern civilization, many large, medium and small cities have begun to ban firecrackers on festivals.