Sky lantern
A sky lantern, also known as Kongming lantern, or Chinese lantern, is a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended.
In Asia and elsewhere around the world, sky lanterns have been traditionally made for centuries, to be launched for play or as part of long-established festivities. The name sky lantern is a translation of the Chinese name but they have also been referred to as sky candles or fire balloons. In Thai, they are known as khom loi.
Several fires have been attributed to sky lanterns, with at least one 21st-century death caused. Sky lanterns have been made illegal in several countries. Many areas of Asia do not permit sky lanterns because of widespread fire hazards as well as danger to livestock.
Construction
The general design is a thin paper shell, which may be from about 30 cm to a couple of metres across, with an opening at the bottom. The opening is usually about 10 to 30 cm wide, and is surrounded by a stiff collar that serves to suspend the flame source and to keep it away from the walls.When lit, the flame heats the air inside the lantern, thus lowering its density and causing the lantern to rise into the air. The sky lantern is only airborne for as long as the flame stays alight, after which the lantern sinks back to the ground.
In China, Taiwan and Thailand, sky lanterns are traditionally made from oiled rice paper on a bamboo frame. The source of hot air may be a small candle or fuel cell composed of a waxy flammable material.
In Brazil and Mexico sky lanterns were traditionally made of several patches of thin translucent paper, in various bright colors, glued together to make a multicolored polyhedral shell. A design that was fairly common was two pyramids joined by the base sometimes with a cube or prism inserted in the middle. Only the smaller models had a full frame made of bamboo or thin wire; the slight overpressure of the hot air was sufficient to keep the larger ones inflated, and the frame was reduced to a wire loop around the bottom opening. The "candle" was usually a packet of paraffin or rosin tightly wrapped in cloth and bound with wire.
History
According to the sinologist and historian of science Joseph Needham, the Chinese experimented with small hot air balloons for signaling from as early as the 3rd century BC. Their invention is, however, traditionally attributed to the sage and military strategist Zhuge Liang, whose reverent term of address was Kongming. He is said to have used a message written on a sky lantern to summon help on an occasion when he was surrounded by enemy troops. For this reason, they are still known in China as Kongming lanterns. Another suggested origin is that the name actually comes from the lantern's resemblance to the hat Kongming is traditionally shown to be wearing.Sky lanterns could be a possible explanation for some UFO sightings through the years.
Usage in festivals
China
In ancient China, sky lanterns were strategically used in wars, in a similar way as kites were used in ancient Chinese warfare, such as military communication, signaling, surveillance or spying, lighting the sky when laying siege on the city at night etc. However, later on, non-military applications were employed as they became popular with children at festivals. These lanterns were subsequently incorporated into festivals like the Chinese Mid-Autumn and Lantern Festivals.India
To represent the Star of Bethlehem during Christmas season, as part of celebrations sky lanterns are released into the night sky with hopes towards a new year.In Bengal and Northeast India, Buddhist people celebrate their Probarona Purnima which signifies end of their three-month lent by releasing lighted sky lanterns, it is the second largest festival of the Buddhist community. During Diwali festival eco-friendly sky lanterns are used for celebrations along with fireworks.It is a ritual of warding away bad energy and beginning a new path to righteousness.
Japan
An annual sky lantern festival known as the Kamihinokinai Paper Balloon Festival is held in Semboku, Akita, on February 10 each year. Hundreds of very large lanterns, known as kamifūsen, are flown for good luck in the coming year. Lanterns are made of washi, traditional Japanese glassine paper. The festival has mythical origins, and was suspended during World War II. It was revived in 1974.Portugal and Brazil
In Brazil, sky lanterns were a traditional feature of the winter holidays at the end of June. It is claimed that custom was brought to Brazil from Portugal by colonists in the 16th century, and is still strong in Portugal, especially in Porto. The June holidays tradition also includes firecrackers and fireworks, another Chinese invention; so it is conjectured that these elements may have been brought from China by Portuguese explorers around 1500. The design and customs of Brazilian sky lanterns are modified to suit their festivals.Bartolomeu de Gusmão, using a large-scale version of these lanterns, was the first man to fly a hot air balloon on 8 August 1709, in the hall of the Casa da Índia in Lisbon, Portugal, long before the Montgolfier brothers.
Brazilian sky lanterns are usually made by small groups of children and adolescents; but adults sometimes joined the effort, especially for the larger and more elaborate balloons. The launching of a large lantern, which could be one or two metres across, would usually require the cooperation of several people, to hold the balloon fully stretched until it was fully inflated. Lanterns with 20 metres or more and loaded with firecrackers and large flags are not uncommon.
Since 1998 launching lanterns has been an environmental crime in Brazil, punishable by up to 3 years in jail.
Taiwan
in New Taipei City of Taiwan holds an annual Lantern Festival in which sky lanterns are released into the night sky with people's wishes written, to send the wishes and messages to God. The Lantern Festival is also known as the 15th day of Lunar New Year, the last day of celebration for Lunar New Year.Thailand
The Lanna people of northern Thailand use "floating lanterns" year round, for celebrations and other special occasions. One very important festival in which sky lanterns are used is the Yi Peng festival, which is held on a full moon of the 2nd month of the Lanna calendar. During the Yi Peng festival, a multitude of lanterns are launched into the air where they resemble large flocks of giant fluorescent jellyfish gracefully floating by through the sky. The most elaborate Yi Peng celebrations can be seen in Chiang Mai, the ancient capital of the former Lanna kingdom. The festival is meant as a time to obtain Buddhist merit. In recent times, floating lanterns have become so popular with all Thai people that they have become integrated into the festival in the rest of the country.In addition, people will also decorate their houses, gardens and temples with intricately shaped paper lanterns of various forms. It is considered good luck to release a sky lantern, and many Thai people believe they are symbolic of problems and worries floating away.
Dangers
A sky lantern may land when the flame is still alight, making it a fire hazard. In typical designs, as long as the lantern stays upright the paper will not get hot enough to ignite, but if the balloon is tilted, it may catch fire while still in the air. All the paper will usually burn in a few seconds, but the flame source may remain lit until it hits the ground. After the balloon lands, the leftover thin wire frame will rust away very slowly, remaining a hazard to animals that may swallow it. Sky lanterns have also been alleged to pose a danger to aircraft. In 2009 British company Sky Orbs Chinese Lanterns developed lanterns using bio-degradable fireproof wool.Early in 2009, a lantern set fire to a house in Siegen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, resulting in the death of a ten-year-old boy. In July the same year, a lantern set fire to two houses in the German town of Dieburg, near Darmstadt.
On 1 July 2013 the 'largest fire ever' in the West Midlands of England, involving 100,000 tonnes of recycling material and causing an estimated £6 million worth of damage, was started by a sky lantern which landed at a plastics recycling plant in Smethwick. Images of the lantern starting the fire were captured on CCTV. In response to the fire, Poundland, a national retail chain whose headquarters are in nearby Willenhall, decided to stop selling sky lanterns and recalled their entire stock on 6 July 2013.
In 2018 a pavilion at Riocentro Convention Center, near downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fully burned after a sky balloon landed on its roof.
In the early hours of 1 January 2020, more than 30 animals, primarily apes and monkeys, were killed at Krefeld Zoo in Germany in a fire believed to have been caused by sky lanterns used in New Year's celebrations. Many of the species involved are endangered in the wild.
Legal status
There has been growing concern by some about the potential danger to cause crop or building fires and even harm animals that may eat their remains. Some places have banned them for these reasons.The city of Sanya in China banned sky lanterns as hazardous towards aircraft and airspace navigation.
In 1936 sky lanterns were made illegal in the Gau Thuringia, German Reich based on the Landespolizeiverordnung über Papierballons mit Brennstoffantrieb vom 30. November 1936. The regulation prohibited the manufacturing, distribution and launch of paper balloons powered by fuel or candles. Violations were punishable by a fine of up to 150 Reichsmark or imprisonment of up to 2 weeks.
In 2020 it is illegal to launch a sky lantern in most parts of Germany, with fines of up to 5000 euros being possible; in some German states, local authorities may give special permission on application. In Austria, it is illegal to produce, sell, import, or distribute them. In Argentina, Chile, and Colombia it is illegal to launch lanterns, as well as in Spain and Vietnam. In Brazil launching lanterns is an environmental crime, punishable by up to 3 years in jail since 1998.
Retail sale of sky lanterns that "rely on an open flame to heat the air inside the lantern" was banned in Australia on 1 February 2011.
Sky lanterns have also been banned since 20 June 2013 in Kittitas County, Washington, in the United States, because of fire concerns. Washington state later banned them statewide.
In Louisiana, the state fire marshal issued a ban on the distribution, sale, and use of sky lanterns in the state in 2013.
Ruth George, then Labour MP for High Peak, introduced a Ten Minute Rule bill calling for the banning of sky lanterns in the UK's House of Commons on 27 March 2019. The bill passed its first reading. However the Bill failed to complete its passage through Parliament before the end of the session.