A sky lantern (), also known as Kǒngmíng lantern (), or Chinese lantern, is a small balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended.
Sky lanterns have been made for centuries in cultures around the world, to be launched for play or as part of long-established festivities. The name sky lantern is a translation of the Standard Chinese name but they have also been referred to as sky candles or fire balloons.
Several fires have been attributed to sky lanterns, with at least two 21st-century cases where deaths occurred. Sky lanterns have been made illegal in several countries such as Vietnam which has banned the production, sale, and release of sky lanterns throughout the country since 2009. Many areas of Asia do not permit sky lanterns because of widespread fire hazards as well as danger to livestock.
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 (locally called "silk paper"), in various bright colors, glued together to make a multicolored polyhedron shell. A design that was fairly common was two pyramids joined by the base (a bipyramid, such as the octahedron) 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 wax or rosin tightly wrapped in cloth and bound with wire.
Another suggested origin is that the name actually comes from the lantern's resemblance to the hat Kongming is traditionally shown to be wearing.The Mongolian army studied from China and used them in the Battle of Legnica during the Mongol invasion of Poland.Joseph Needham (1965). Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 4, Physics and Physical Technology, Part 2, Mechanical Engineering; rpr. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. This is the first time ballooning was known in the western world.
In the history of military ballooning, the lanterns were also used for military signals, In the history of ballooning, these became the first hot air balloons used in the West, in Europe, during the Mongol Invasion of Poland.
Sky lanterns could be a possible explanation for some UFO sightings through the years.
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 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.
In addition, people will also decorate their houses, gardens and temples with intricately shaped paper lanterns (, khom fai) 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.
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 closed-circuit television. "Smethwick blaze CCTV released", ITV News, 2013-07-01. "Smethwick fire: Chinese lantern 'caused largest blaze'", BBC News, 2013-07-01. 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. "Poundland Stops Selling Chinese Lanterns After Massive Fire In Smethwick". Huffington Post. 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
In 2014 (as well as many other years) dozens of flights from Chiang Mai airport in Thailand had to be diverted or canceled when thousands of sky lanterns were released into the air.
In 2018 a pavilion at Riocentro Convention Center, near downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, fully burned after a sky balloon landed on its roof.Dom Phillips, "World's most prestigious maths medal is stolen minutes after professor wins it", The Guardian, 2018-08-01.
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.Associated Press, "Fire kills more than 30 animals at zoo in western Germany", CBC News, 2020-01-01. "Krefeld zoo fire: German police suspect three women", BBC News, 2020-01-02. Many of the species involved are endangered in the wild.
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, Nazi Germany, based on the Landespolizeiverordnung über Papierballons mit Brennstoffantrieb vom 30. November 1936 (State police regulation on fuel powered paper balloons of 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 or imprisonment of up to two weeks.
Since 2009 it has been 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 three years in jail since 1998.
Retail sale (but not possession and use) 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. In 2015, Washington state later banned their use statewide, with the adoption of the 2015 International Fire Code.
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, and ultimately was unable to be passed into law.
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