The Lights Fest

Last Saturday, our little family drove out to Stonyford, CA to participate in The Lights Fest event nearest us. This event, as described by the organizers, “is an experience where thousands of friends and families gather to listen to live music, fill up on food trucks and light up life by sharing personal wishes, dreams and goals. At the perfect moment everyone ignites their personalized sky lanterns with Tiki torches and lets them take flight. It creates a surreal ambiance, where time slows down and your single flame rises and joins with thousands of others to create your own stars.”

It truly was one for the books. And as my wife put it, “Lights fest — another bucket list ticked off!”

Researching more about this gave me the following bits of interesting info:

A sky lantern (simplified Chinese: 天灯; traditional Chinese: 天燈; pinyin: tiāndēng), also known as Kǒngmíng lantern (simplified Chinese: 孔明灯; traditional Chinese: 孔明燈), 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.

from Wikipedia

According to Wikipedia, the origins, traced back to 3rd Century BC China, point to these lanterns being used for signaling during warfare, with its use being attributed to “sage and military strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD),^[1] 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 (孔明燈, 孔明灯, kǒngmíng dēng).” (from Wikipedia, History section)

Eventually, and due to its popularity among children, sky lanterns got incorporated into Chinese festivals like the Chinese Mid-Autumn and Lantern Festivals, Wikipedia further explains. Nowadays, these sky lanterns have become symbols that emphasize the “unity of family coming back together during the first full moon (which) is represented by the lanterns all coming together in the sky upon being released (with the) roundness of the lanterns express(ing) the wholeness of family.^[4]” (from Wikipedia, Usage in Festival section) The common belief is that the sky lanterns “promote reconciliation, peace and forgiveness alongside the unity of family.^[5]” (ibid.)

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Looking back at our experience last Saturday, two things stand out:

1. Events like this are best experienced with family–even better, a larger group of family members. — The organizers were very mindful of the dangers of COVID-19, thus made sure the tiki torches (which served as markers for areas where folks could settle down) were spaced out according to social distancing specs. All around us were varying numbers of groups of people–some just two (on a date); others being large family groups. My little family could have used the company of additional family members to share our 6 person tent, and the open space that we claimed our own throughout the event. Nonetheless, Ari had the most fun inside the tent, with the food, his iPad, and his dad and mom.
2. As the lanterns flew upwards, it was a surreal and beautiful experience at the same time. — I remember just being quiet for a moment, as I looked up to see hundreds of lanterns floating upwards. It reminded me of one of my Dad’s favorite verses from the Bible: “I will lift up my eyes to the hills–from whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1 & 2, NKJV) Ari kept saying “Wow!” in his own little way of appreciating what he was seeing. Earlier that afternoon, folks were encouraged to write something on their lanterns: wishes/messages/prayers/items that they wanted to let go of/names of people they lost and were trying to honor tonight. The idea was that these lanterns would carry these messages to God, when released into the night sky!