Same here in Poland, fireworks nad firecrackers too. As a kid I threw plenty of those small firecrackers during 31st, usually for fun, before main celebrations. And every family usually gets few bigger fireworks too, for the midnight and usually hour or few before/after it.Bunnies making mochi has a cultural background BTW
Also can confirm that here in Italy a lot of people shoot fireworks on New Year, mostly at midnight but some try them out beforehand like in this chapter. It's noisy indeed, and very unpleasant for dogs.
Thanks for the new translation and happy new year!