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Practice Reading: Fill in the Blanks (Dropdown) ID: #35324 Gunpowder Fireworks
Instructions
Gunpowder  and  fireworks  might  have  been  invented  independently  in  Europe,  but  they  probably  reached  Europe  via  the  Mongols,  who  spread  west  from  China  as  far  as  central  Europe  by  the  mid-13th  century.  In  1267,  the  English  monk  Roger  Bacon    what  were  very  likely  firecrackers,  which  he  compared  with  the  flash  of  lightning  and  growl  of  thunder.
In  1377  fireworks    a  religious  mystery  play  by  the  bishop's  palace  in  Vicenza,  and  were  soon  used  to  add  sparks  to  figures  of  doves,  representing  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  angels,  made  to  ascend  and  descend  from  the  heavens  on  ropes.
By  the  15th  century,  rockets  were  being  used  in  Europe  for  military  and  peaceful  purposes.  Italian  and  Spanish  cities  in  particular  fireworks  for  outdoor  celebrations.  The  Italian  metallurgist  Vannoccio  Biringuccio  described  festivities  in  Florence  and  Siena  for  feast  days.  These  included  'girandoles'  or  whirling  decorated  wheels  packed  with  fireworks  which  were    a  rope  hung  across  a  street  or  square.
Fireworks  were  also  used  in  the  German  lands.  An  elaborate  colour-painted  book    the  Schembart  carnival  of  Nuremberg,  which  saw  men  dressed  in  brightly-coloured  costumes  parading  through  the  town.  Often  these  included  some  kind  of  pyrotechnics.  One  image  shows  a  man  wearing  a  hat  in  the  form  of  a  castle  with  fireworks  and  smoke  shooting  up  from  the  towers,  and  interestingly,  what  looks  like  a  smoking  artichoke.

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