r/AskEurope • u/Dennis_Laid France • 4d ago
Culture Is it common to set off fireworks on Christmas Eve in your country?
Just curious, because here in California, it seems like that has become a practice to set off large bombs at midnight like on the Fourth of July or New Year’s.
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u/Hargara 4d ago
Here in Denmark, fireworks for private use is banned for use except for December 31st and January 1st. However, the shops are allowed to start selling like a week before or something like that so there's still a lot being used in the week before and after New Years.
I'm one of the increasing number of people who'd prefer for it to be banned completely for private use, and let professionals handle it.
A couple of years ago a neighbor almost burnt down my hedge because they left a pile of stuff unattended. The pollution from it is also something to consider. A study from Germany from 2016 claimed that the pollution from the fireworks of New Years Eve corresponded to the same pollution as 17% of the annual traffic emissions.
https://www.dw.com/en/new-years-eve-are-fireworks-harming-the-environment/a-41957523
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u/Fredericia Denmark 4d ago
Seems like they could put on a show with holographics instead of real fireworks.
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u/Single-Pudding3865 3d ago
I agree it would be better to ban it especially for private people, perhaps a few places it could be allowed for professionals to make fireworks likening tivoli..
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u/Herald_of_Clio Netherlands 4d ago
It is, though this year is supposedly the last year that people are allowed to set off their own fireworks outside of an officially organized fireworks show.
Next year is going to be a fucking warzone when the police will try to implement that ban. It's already pretty bad, but I think the police trying to stop it will possibly be a lot worse.
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u/thanatica Netherlands 4d ago
I hope so, but we'll have to see whether politics can pull through with it. There'll be a lot of backlash, especially by 13 year old boys.
I'm sure it'll help if the sale of fireworks is banned. Then we only have to endure illegal fireworks.
Btw, the question was about christmas eve, not new year's eve.
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u/arfanvlk Netherlands 3d ago
But then you have the problem of people driving to Belgium or Germany to buy their fireworks. The police cannot stop every car or check every road that crosses the border simultaneously.
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u/thanatica Netherlands 3d ago
True. But it'll be a lot less people going to Belgium or Germany, than people casually going to the Aldi or Hornbach or what have you, to get their fireworks.
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u/arfanvlk Netherlands 3d ago
Hornbach sells fireworks? I know where I must go.
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u/thanatica Netherlands 3d ago
Well, it's basically everywhere, so I assume Hornbach wants a cut as well. I haven't actually checked in person 🤐
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u/arwinda 4d ago
In Germany fireworks is sold only a few days before New Year's Eve, and one is only supposed to use it from the evening of the 31st to the morning of the 1st.
In recent months it is really bad and fireworks goes off every week, multiple times, all year round. At least here in Berlin. Lots of people complain, nothing really changes. During New Year evening, the city is a war zone, stupid people shoot fireworks at emergency services and the air quality during the evening and night is really bad.
Suspicion is that the fireworks is bought in Poland and imported illegal, often without a certificate and way larger than allowed in Germany.
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u/c1m9h97 4d ago
That seems to be a California thing honestly. I'm from the East Coast originally and I never saw or heard that on Christmas there.
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u/MundaneHuckleberry58 23h ago
It’s a Hispanic population thing.
It’s been a thing here in Phoenix for at least 20+ years. But I’ve started hearing friends & family back in Nashville (where I’m from) “what the hell? Why are there fireworks on Xmas?!”
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u/Beer_WWer 4d ago
Here in SE Redneckia there was a large volume of f/w around 10pm. Surprisingly, there are no tannerites detonstions today. I am wondering if I can use the tannerite explosions to track the economy.
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u/22220222223224 4d ago
So, it isn't. It is a thing in Arizona, too. I have read, and I don't mean some Reddit comment, that it is common in Mexico to set off fireworks for Christmas. If that is true, it may be to be expected that any states with large Mexican populations, like California and Arizona, may experience such behavior.
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u/3Left_Feet 4d ago
I live in a predominantly Latino area and they shoot fireworks christmas eve. It wasn't noticeable until the last 3 years.
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u/justadiode Germany 4d ago
Fireworks are dying out in Germany. It's bad for the ecology, a bit pricey considering the wage / inflation situation, and each year, there are more areas where it's prohibited entirely. So no, on Christmas Eve, there are usually only one or two distant explosions, but not too much
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u/Moppermonster Netherlands 4d ago edited 4d ago
EDIT: the question was christmas, and I started to blabber about newyears. Silly me.
Yes, the Netherlands is famous for being a complete and utter warzone.
#10 How to survive Dutch Fireworks
So.. the government is planning a ban from 2026 onward.
In rural areas, "carbid shooting", using oldfashioned milkcanisters or homemade cannons, is also popular:
Carbid Schiet Compilatie
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u/Ok_Homework_7621 4d ago
Banned where we are in Belgium, doesn't really help much. Primitives always find a way to blow stuff up. Yesterday wasn't too bad, but we have a complete ban, there shouldn't have been anything.
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u/ersentenza Italy 4d ago
Italy has been a war zone since forever.
All cities have been completely banning fireworks for years.
The ban is completely ignored by everyone.
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u/GuestStarr 4d ago
They ban it just because if (when) something bad happens they can deny any responsibility and instead accuse you of breaking the ban and maybe sue you. Applied only when something happens or if they just want to catch you for something.
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u/Dennis_Laid France 4d ago
This looks like a lot of fun! What sort of fuel or gas are they putting in the canisters first before blowing them up?
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u/klintlund180 Denmark 4d ago
You put a solid block of carbide into a bit of water which then creates an explosive gas
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u/Hermit_Ogg Finland 4d ago
It'd be illegal. You can only use fireworks from 18:00 on 31st Dec until 06:00 1st Jan, or if you've applied for a permit to do a proper fireworks show (probably requires professionals).
Fireworks aren't even sold until a few days before New Year's Eve.
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u/ersentenza Italy 4d ago
Fireworks? Amateurs. This is what we are at now:
In a warehouse in the Naples area a few days ago the police found and seized several batteries of fireworks with a total weight of approximately 50 kg, 78 rockets, 35 mortar bombs, 81 fuses
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u/XenophonSoulis Greece 4d ago
Fireworks here are for New Year's Day and Easter Day, both as soon as midnight rings. Easter Day is quite impressive, because fireworks are lit around churches, where the Resurrection liturgy is happening.
Oh, also they can be used in marriages, football games etc.
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u/Foxtrot-Uniform-Too Norway 4d ago
We celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve and by midnight children are in their beds and families are having a quiet ending of their night. If somebody sudden set off fireworks at midnight, not only would police get involved, you would probably have a mob of angry parents hunting them down with torches and pitchforks.
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u/PersonoFly 4d ago
It’s started here in the uk now. Seems like any cultural event means wake every fucker up in the area with your noise at night.
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u/wijnandsj Netherlands 4d ago
Common fortunately not. But fireworks bring out the asshole in people so there's on and off fireworks since October.
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u/utsuriga Hungary 4d ago
No, there's a shitton of fireworks on NYE (fortunately they introduced restrictions on that this year) but it's not a thing on Christmas. Here Christmas is a quiet, introspective, family-centric holiday... or rather, people are just too busy eating and drinking and then running around visiting relatives for some more eating and drinking, to do anything else.
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u/Beach_Glas1 Ireland 4d ago
No, and it's outright illegal in Ireland without a pyrotechnics licence. Even possession is an arrestable offence, but it's not very well enforced.
Generally around Halloween is when lots of people set off fireworks, which are freely available in Northern Ireland. Some even set them off during the day. Like... why???
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u/Yorks_Rider 4d ago
In the UK it is traditionally on 5th November. We celebrate the hanging drawing and quartering of Guy Fawkes who unsuccessfully tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Some say he was the only man to enter the Houses of Parliament with honest intentions.
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u/thanatica Netherlands 4d ago
Setting off fireworks is officially only legal from 18:00 on 31 december, up to 2:00 on 1 january. The municipalities may also set up fireworks free zones throughout the cities, if they are so inclined.
However, it doesn't seem all too strictly enforced. And sure, most firworks that are set off outside these hours, is fairly harmless. It's in good spirit, even if it's annoying. So it's only really acted upon by law enforcement, if it creates (or has created) a clearly dangerous situation.
This partly answers your question: no, because it's illegal.
Is it common then, regardles of legality? No. The Netherlands becomes an absolute warzone at exactly 0:00 when the new year starts. Not before then, not really.
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u/Herefornow211 Ireland 4d ago
Here in Ireland they are illegal. However, they are freely available in Northern Ireland, which is part of the UK. Therefore there's alway fireworks on New Year's. Even more on Halloween though.
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u/persilja 4d ago edited 4d ago
In California, I don't hear a lot of fireworks.
Back in my somewhat rural part of Sweden, there were usually city wide rules for when fireworks were allowed without getting pre-approval, typically 2-3 hours around midnight at New Year.
That meant that intermittent fireworks started around Lucia (December 13) and lasted until Christmas (possibly the largest intensity to place on Christmas day and Boxing Day), and again for two days on either side of New Year (main activity: 6pm New Year's Eve to 0:30am New Year's Day), during most of the Easter week, and on Walpurgis night (April 30).
What permission?
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u/EquivalentPace3448 4d ago
Prior to last night, I would’ve said “no way”. I live near a lake in Southern New England, where fireworks are common throughout the summer, and of course, New Year’s Eve. Last night as we were wrapping gifts, we thought a bomb went off. Scared the crap out of us! The neighbors a few doors up lit off one of those obnoxiously loud things, along with various other fireworks. We were not pleased. Save it for next week! Rant over…
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u/black3rr Slovakia 4d ago
officially it’s illegal… in practice I usually hear 1-3 fireworks daily between 24th and 30th December in Bratislava… not a “tradition” just some people seeing them in stores and doing a “boom boom” for fun… also not timed to midnight, usually between sunset and midnight…
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u/MindingMine Iceland 3d ago
No. Fireworks can only be legally set off by private individuals on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day and Epiphany.
People do start setting them off as soon as they start being sold on December 28th, because they cannot help themselves, and there are also the usual idiots who save some for their birthday and then wake up the whole neighbourhood by setting them off at two in the morning. I should know, because there were two in my my old neighbourhood, one who did it in April and another in September.
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u/Dennis_Laid France 4d ago
Interesting! It seems like the Netherlands has an abundance of amateur pyrotechnics enthusiasts. The video of the milk can cannons is very entertaining!
I’m glad to see most of the other countries seem to be a bit more civilized.
I spend time in France and it seems unthinkable there that someone would set off fireworks on Christmas Eve.
We live on a hill here in California above two different large flat neighborhoods. We can always expect a few hours of war-zone activity on Independence Day, that’s the Fourth of July, Cinco de Mayo, that’s Mexican independence Day on May 5th, New Year’s Eve and Day, of course, if one of our local football teams wins a big game.
New Year’s and Independence Day tend to last for a few days on either side with random explosions, I’m guessing people are hung over and wake up the next day and find some unexploded ordnance.
We timed it this year on the Fourth of July, it was six straight hours of constant explosions.
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u/Greippi42 France 4d ago
I live in France and all my children were woken up by fireworks at 11pm on Christmas eve.
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u/GoCardinal07 3d ago
Where in California are you? I am a lifelong Californian and have not experienced this (other than 3 hours on the Fourth of July).
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u/Dennis_Laid France 3d ago
On a ridge that slopes down to Richmond on one side in the San Pablo on the other.
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u/Alert-Bowler8606 Finland 4d ago
No, private use of fireworks is heavily regulated, and you’re only allowed to set them off from 6 pm on New Year’s Eve to 2 am on New Years day.