Sky Lanterns can always be seen in abundance during the traditional lantern festivals that mark the end of the Chinese New Year Festivities. The date links with the first full moon of the year. They set the stage for the processions and colourful performances to end the festivities.
The processions will include clowns, stilt walkers, acrobats, fire breathers, dancers, floats, music and drums and of course the mainstay of Chinese lion and dragon dances and fireworks. Children carry lanterns around the villages. Families come together to eat sweet rice balls for good fortune and family unity. Lanterns were traditionally made of silk, paper and even glass. You will probably be familiar with the most common type – seen everywhere, from films, to decoration in Chinese restaurants – the red balloon type. Nowadays, though they come in a wide variety of shapes and colours. They can be small, such as those carried by school children, or gigantic, such as the processional floats shaped in the form of the Chinese Zodiac animal for that year. Teams of skilled craftsmen usually make the floats, their art passed down through generations of families.
Nowadays, the styles of lanterns you might see during a festival might include box-shaped ones, while others represent lotus flowers, dragons, butterflies, and animals. Modern lanterns even break with tradition and you are just as likely to see a cartoon character like Superman or Batman as characters from Chinese mythology. The Sky Lanterns dancing elegantly overhead are among the most delightful elements of the festivities.
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