India, Oct. 17 -- As with so many dramatic inventions, the first firecracker may have been born of an accident.

In 1st century BCE China, it is said, someone tossed a hollow bamboo stalk into a fire and watched it explode with a bang.

Bamboo, it turned out, was a natural firecracker. The sealed air pockets in its hollow stalk expand when heated, until they burst with a sharp crack. Records indicate that, once this was known, traders and travellers began to carry sticks of bamboo with them on long journeys, setting them alight to frighten away animals (or even evil spirits, if their luck seemed suspiciously bad).

Then, most likely in China again, we began to unlock the intricacies of chemical combustion, with gunpowder. Taoist alchemist...