{"id":2103,"date":"2016-05-02T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2016-05-02T09:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nextstopadventure.com\/?p=2103"},"modified":"2017-11-17T21:52:11","modified_gmt":"2017-11-17T21:52:11","slug":"lantern-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextstopadventure.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/02\/lantern-fest\/","title":{"rendered":"Lantern Fest"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend, Brighton and I participated in the Lantern Fest. The premise of the event is that each participant can light their own lantern and set it off at the same time of thousands of lanterns.<\/p>\n

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History of Lantern Release<\/h2>\n

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(Source<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The origin of the lantern festival are somewhat unclear from my research, but it\u2019s said to be a 2,200 year old Chinese tradition to celebrate the end of the Chinese New Year.<\/p>\n

Another source<\/a> I found mentions that the first sky lantern was used to signaling during the 3rd century BC. Taiwan has a festival where lanterns are released with participants\u2019 wishes and prayers written on them. In Thailand, lanterns are released during a festival called Yi Peng (roughly translated to two full moon day), where the people can \u201cmake merit\u201d which relates to a person\u2019s growth toward spiritual liberation in the Buddhist religion. In addition, many Thai believe that by releasing the lantern, they are also releasing their worries and problems away.<\/p>\n

As you can tell, there is much history and significance to releasing paper lanterns into the night sky at different times of the years in many cultures.<\/p>\n

What are they made of? How is this event sustainable?<\/h2>\n

The lanterns that we used are made with 100% biodegradable rice paper, bamboo and string. I really liked that they take responsibility in making sure their events are not damaging to the environment.<\/p>\n

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In the box that they provided us, they mentioned that they collect all of the lanterns the day after the event. Each lantern also has a tag that notes for the finder to report the lantern on a webpage for any lost lanterns that they didn\u2019t collect. For each lantern lost, they will donate to a local environmental impact agency. In addition to all that, the lanterns are designed to disintegrate in rain. Pretty sweet, huh?<\/p>\n

What is the Lantern Fest all about?<\/h2>\n

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This is an afternoon and evening with music, dancing, bonfires, s\u2019mores, food, drink, and hanging out. We chose to come closer to sunset in anticipation of the big launch, and we ended up in over a mile of traffic waiting to park. I felt like we had enough time to experience the event. We arrived, parked, shuttled to the registration area, checked in, and set up camp with some new friends.<\/p>\n

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Since we got there late, we had to share the bonfire with some strangers. They were great company though. I\u2019m an outgoing person, so I had no issue asking a stranger to sit with them. I wonder if someone more shy would\u2019ve had a different experience though. I feel like it contributed to the overall experience though since Brighton and I had bought tickets for just the two of us. They allow outside food, but not outside drink into the venue.<\/p>\n

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They had food trucks, but our bonfire mates told us that they were running out (or had run out already) of food, and they waited over an hour and half for a personal pizza. I attempted to wait in line for the waffles, but quickly gave up because I was worried that I\u2019d spend the whole time there instead of relaxing.<\/p>\n

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Luckily, our registration box included a s\u2019more kit complete with a roasting stick, marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate.<\/p>\n

Our registration box included:<\/p>\n