Fireworks explosion kills three women on Oahu

[Patricia]

Polynesians established themselves on the Hawaiian Islands approx. 1600 years ago. They did not gain access to gunpowder until the 18th century...

It is probable that along with gunpowder, western colonizers and the Chinese may have brought pyrotechnics with them to Hawaii. So, while the origins of fireworks may be well over a thousand years past, their introduction into Hawaiian culture is historically recent.

https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/nation...ry-america

[HiloJulie]

This is from NPR's "All Things Considered" show, from December 28, 2008, talking about the history of fireworks here in Hawaii.

In this report, a man named Desoto Brown from Bishop Museum Archives who states it started here in the 1800's when there was a large Chinese immigration to Hawaii.

The Chinese had been doing the fireworks thing around the 900's.

Hawaii's New Year's Eve Fireworks Traditions : NPR

(This is an AUDIO only link. A "player" should open up and you can then press the play button)

[terracore]

https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/03/honolu...ey-fizzle/

"94% of citations are dropped"

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Let me try asking my question another way.
If one of the arguments that everyone should get to blow off fireworks in Hawaii is because it’s cultural and part of the Hawaiian heritage, around what date give or take a decade or two did the average Hawaiian resident have the wherewithal and resources to buy and blow off fireworks?  

There was a canon in Hawaii in the 1800’s too, but the average guy didn’t have one to fire off on his birthday.

[Durian Fiend]

Let me try asking my question another way.
If one of the arguments that everyone should get to blow off fireworks in Hawaii is because it’s cultural and part of the Hawaiian heritage, around what date give or take a decade or two did the average Hawaiian resident have the wherewithal and resources to buy and blow off fireworks?  

There was a canon in Hawaii in the 1800’s too, but the average guy didn’t have one to fire off on his birthday.

I think it was the large influx of Japanese immigrants in the later 1800s that was mostly responsible for fireworks becoming popular in the state.
Of course, it wouldn't be until some time in the 20th century when the average resident would have easy access to buying and utilizing them.
So the cultural argument seems weak to me.

[kalianna]

Itʻs like the roosters.

[HiloJulie]

"If one of the arguments that everyone should get to blow off fireworks in Hawaii is because it’s cultural and part of the Hawaiian heritage, around what date give or take a decade or two did the average Hawaiian resident have the wherewithal and resources to buy and blow off fireworks?"

I've not been able to find any specific answer to your question HOTPE, that is with a definitive reliable source, except to say that the consensus of what I've read and discussed with some close Hawaiian elders my husband and I know is that the popularity started around the late 1800's to early 1900's.

I can't imagine that fireworks would have been an abundant commodity during the Royality days, but from everything I've read so far, it is generally published that the fireworks at New Years were indeed a result of Chinese immigration and the bringing of that tradition to the Hawaiian people occurred in the late 1800's early 1900's.

But for now, I am going with the answer my almost 90-year-old neighbor - a lifelong resident of the Big Island and Native Hawaiian said when I asked her your question:

"When first J. Hara store open!"

"There was a canon in Hawaii in the 1800’s too, but the average guy didn’t have one to fire off on his birthday."

Let's not give anyone anymore suggestions!

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

some time in the 20th century when the average resident would have easy access to buying and utilizing them.
So the cultural argument seems weak to me.

That’s about the time I thought, but couldn’t find a definitive date.  If that is correct, it’s like saying electricity and cars are a Hawaiian Islands cultural tradition.

[HiloJulie]

"...it’s like saying... ...and cars are a Hawaiian Islands cultural tradition."

Wait. You mean...

   

[Punaperson]

Two comments:

- When I was young in Honolulu, and still somewhat young when moving to Puna in the 80's, tradition meant buying long strings of firecrackers that were attached to some type of pole at the end of your driveway, and set off at midnight at the start of the New Year to chase away evil spirits and prevent them from entering your home.

- I watched several newscasts about the Honolulu tragedy, and during one of them while Gov Greene was talking about the horror first responders faced when arriving at the scene he said " brains on the sidewalk ". That image will haunt me for a long time to come.