By Abraham Freeman-Moore
November 16, 2024
As I scrolled through my Instagram feed an image of glowing lights on a dimly lit lake caught my eye. I abruptly stopped the feed from scrolling further and then carefully moved back up the page until I found the image.
It was an ad. Ugh. I try to avoid ads on social media at all costs. The ad's title read something like "Water Lantern Festival." I was intrigued, clicked the bait, and was taken to a legitimate-looking site.
This would be a great date idea, I thought, so I purchased two tickets. We would be attending the festival in four weeks.
On the day of the festival, we were both hesitant to arrive when the festival started. Sitting on the chilly ground suddenly didn’t sound so romantic. We decided to settle by showing up two hours before sunset. As we drove around the park we scoured the streets for a place to park. Eventually, we headed up a side street and found parking. As we approached the festival on foot we headed for the white-topped pop-up tents. Arriving I flashed our tickets on my phone and in return was provided with two unassembled lanterns, two bags, a pink and a black mini Sharpie, and a maroon throw mandala blanket to sit on.
It’s difficult to determine the origin of the water lantern. Some sources say China while other sites state India. I found that water lanterns are used during the seventh lunar month. The lunar calendar comprises 354 days while the solar or Gregorian calendar comprises 365 days; the seventh month in the lunar calendar fluctuates by about 11 days due to discrepancies in days. Thus the seventh lunar month may be held in June or August (Lunar).
During the seventh lunar month, the Ghost Festival or Hungry Ghost Festival is held. The festival originated in China to help suffering spirits. During this month people who came before us are able to return to our world. However, precautions must be taken by the living due to maleficent ghosts. In order to ease the suffering of the ghosts people feed them by leaving food out (Stepanchuk). I found this interesting because one of the ways living people ease their suffering in today's world is by eating comfort foods.
So, why the water lanterns you may ask?
Well, they are released to help ghosts find their way out of suffering.
Honestly, I wish I had known all of this before attending the festival, but unfortunately, I did not.
The festival curators opted for what felt like a new age feel. In each bag held the pieces of our lanterns and a few simple instructions. The instructions told us to inscribe our hopes and dreams on to the paper.
As we sat on our claimed patch of grass we watched other couples. Some were cuddled up to one another while others sat separately eating. If you happened to forget to bring food or just did not want to there were a multitude of vendors to purchase from. One couple next to us had purchased an air hammock. I had seen these in ads on social media, though I had never seen one in real life. It looked comfy and my curiosity got the better of me. For those that don’t know an Air Hammock is constructed of two tubes of air-tight fabric. The tubes are about fourteen inches across and five feet long. I had been wanting to try one.
Why not? I thought.
I walked fifty or so feet to the merchandise tent to the right of us and bought one. Tearing the styrene packaging with my teeth I opened the package and pulled out the hammock. The instruction simply said to inflate it, though this was a challenge because how are you supposed to inflate a fourteen-inch tube that has a fourteen-inch hole?
Well, running up and down the lawn, I surmised. As I ran back and forth with the fabric catching air, the other couples stared openly at me. This method worked partially. Having another great idea, I spun around in a circle with the hammock. With both of these techniques, I was able to fill the tubes mostly. As I rolled the opening closed the caught air compressed puffing up the tube.
I plopped the hammock next to my wife for her to sit on. She did and then I took my turn. It was comfy.
We began assembling our lanterns which consisted of a square wood base that had a hole partially drilled through each corner. I plugged the four skewer-like pillars into each hole. In the center of the base, I dropped in the electronic candle. Next, I took my Sharpie and wrote down my dreams for the world and for myself on the translucent paper that had both of its ends connected. Taking my newly decorated paper I slipped it over the four pillars. Turning on my candle in the dimming evening light the lantern gave off a warm glow.
As the last rays of the sun disappeared my wife and I joined the other festivalgoers by the water's edge. As each person took turns releasing their floating lanterns on the lake others snapped photos of them. A young woman was in the water pushing the lanterns away from the shore edge, as the lanterns floated I thought they would float to the middle of the lake, though this was impossible. A barrier had been placed about thirty feet out. As the lanterns floated into it they became caught. This was to make cleanup easier and to prevent pollution to the lake.
We took a moment by setting a timer on my watch for five minutes to be in the moment. The throngs of people around us were of different ages though most seemed to be in their twenties to thirties. Photos were being taken everywhere, some with high-end cameras, but most with the selfie mode of their phones. As my eyes drifted from the people I realized that many of them around us looked like couples, maybe that was my own bias. We wrapped up the night by taking one good long look at the bobbing lanterns that held the hopes and dreams of the many around us.
References
“Lunar Calendar.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., www.britannica.com/science/lunar-calendar. Accessed 14 Nov. 2024.
Stepanchuk, C., Wong, C. C. (1991). Mooncakes and hungry ghosts; festivals of China. San Francisco: China Books & Periodicals.
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