A few weeks ago marked another Chinese holiday for me to experience. This time, I was an actual participant instead of a confused outsider. The fifteenth day of the first month in the Chinese lunar calendar marks the Lantern Festival (my next post will be about the holiday) and a fun tradition of sending up small hot air balloons into the sky recklessly. Here's how:
1. Buy a sky lantern at the local sky lantern distributor. We traveled to Pingxi (ping-SHE), Taiwan, a place that is famous for the holiday celebration.
2. Write your wishes for the year, or any thoughts you'd like to share with the Gods, on the side. You could write Chinese, English, draw pictures, whatever suits you. I'm pretty confident omnipotent beings will be able to interpret your messages, or at least call their nephew who is taking English at the local cram school to help them translate.
2A. For added bonus, attach a string of fireworks to the end to attract attention to your floating masterpiece of hopes and dreams.
3. Set the thing on fire, light your firecrackers, run away and hope for the best.
4. Watch it float until you can't see it anymore. Pray that it doesn't fall from the sky and set fire to anybody's residence or business. That is the opposite of good luck for your upcoming year.
If you followed these instructions carefully, it should look like this...
Here is a quick FAQ in case there are problems:
Q: My house is on fire, did I do something wrong?
A: Yes you did, common mistake however, easily fixed. After putting out the fire by your own means or through the good graces of your local fire department, trying sending up your sky lantern outdoors instead of indoors. Your house isn't nearly high enough for the Gods to read your wishes and it is called a sky lantern, not a ceiling lantern, for very good reasons.
Q: What kinds of wishes work best?
A: That depends. I've found it best to wish for the well-being of friends and family, good luck and fortune for the year, and good health. But if you want to try to obtain a heavenly supply of endless chicken wings, the ability to seduce a piece of fruit with your wind, or merely win a ba-jillion dollars, give it a try.
Q: Who can use a sky lantern?
A: Anybody! But make sure you use under adult supervision and make sure that adult has adult supervision. Young, old, short, tall, ugly, unfunny, illiterate, sarcastic, boring, drunks, dishonest, lazy, rude, and more are able to be a part of this amazing spectacle. For best results, gather one person for each of the previous words and make it a team-building activity. Have fun!
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