Portuguese Rockets

Today I will talk about the traditional Portuguese fireworks rockets!

In my country (Portugal) the most traditional fireworks kind ever made where the rockets.

They basically consist of a wood stick or cane with a rocket motor (propellant casing) and a paper bag containg flash bombettes or color effects. They are traditionally hand-launched and many times lit by a cigarette.

Rockets, along with other types of fireworks, are used in Portugal mainly in Catholic saints feasts by night, but also during the daylight.

Do you know what's the Portuguese word for Rocket? It's Foguete and the word for Fireworks is Fogo-de-Artifício.

Unfortunately, the rockets are banned and replaced by mortars/shells in the summer because the suspect that they caused forest fires during the hot weather when their hot motor (propellant casing) or other parts come falling from the sky but during other seasons you could see rocket displays in many cities and villages of the country.

Take a look at the appearance of a Portuguese Rocket:

Have you noticed some of them have more than one motor? That's because it's heavier weight!

Look at the video below and see some being hand launched by pyrotechnicians (in Portuguese fogueteiros):

What about visit Portugal and see that amazing things live?

Comments

Double Voice Cracker

These days I watched a video of a strange fireworks device I have never seen and discovered it's name is " Double Voice Cracker ". Today I will tell you what I have learned about it. Also known as Heaven and Earth or Bing Bong , Double Voice Crackers are a chinese type of firecracker that essentially produces 2 bangs, one in the ground an another in the air. It is like a mortar and shell self contained in a single tube divided in the middle by a clay (or other hard material) plug with a timing fuse. Below is a diagram of a Double Voice Cracker from the book " The Best of AFN II ": Before igniting the fuse, the device must be placed over a hard and flat surface with the lifting charge facing the ground. When the fuse is ignited, the lifting charge explodes and kicks the tube into the air, while igniting the time fuse and finally the report charge explodes in the air. The report charge could be flash powder or any other effect. For more safety ...

Heavy smoke in Copacabana Fireworks Show

Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is famous for it's huge and beautiful fireworks show every year. But last New Years Eve (2024 - 2025), many viewers were disappointed with the show because of a heavy smoke cloud that overshadowed the beauty of the spectacle right after the first 2 minutes. But what was the reason of so much smoke? We all know that almost any kind of firework cause lots of smoke. Many people think the problem was caused by the quality of the products, but the main reason for that was probably the high humidity rate. In Rio de Janeiro, the highest humidity rates occur between december and april. According to INMET (National Institute of Meteorology), the humidity at the moment of the show was around 89% , so this, along with an unfavorable wind, was the main reason for the problem. Below is a picture of the beautiful start of the show: But unfortunately some minutes later: Anyway, with lots of smoke or not, for us that love fireworks it's a...

Brazilian Baianinha Spinner

Baianinha is the name of a small Brazilian firework. Essentially, it is a spinner that acts like a spinning top. You put it on the ground, light up the fuse and then the fire spray comes out from the fuse hole causing the "Baianinha" so spin around itself making an effect similar to a spinning top. Below is a Baianinha from Fogos Lider (one of the biggest fireworks factories in Brazil) Check how it works in this video:

Fireworks Blog

Search This Blog