The significance of putting on Kongming lanterns in Mid-Autumn Festival

On the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month every year, there is a custom of putting lanterns in many areas. In the villages around Wenchang, Wanning and Danzhou in Hainan, there is a custom of tying lanterns and putting them out. The Hakka custom of Kongming Lantern includes the custom of flying Kongming Lantern around the Lantern Festival, in order to pray for God's blessing for a happy life in the coming year.

Kongming Lantern, also known as Sky Lantern, is said to have been invented by Zhu Gekongming (Zhuge Liang) during the Three Kingdoms period. At that time, Zhu Gekongming was besieged by Sima Yi and could not send troops out of the city for help. Kong Ming calculated the wind direction, made a floating paper lantern, and tied a message for help on it. Later, he was out of danger, so later generations called this lantern Kongming Lantern.

Another way of saying this is that this lantern looks like a hat worn by Zhu Gekongming, hence its name. Sky lanterns are also called "blessing lanterns" or "peace lanterns". Modern people use Kongming lanterns as a blessing. Men, women and children personally write down their wishes for blessings, symbolizing a bumper harvest and happiness every year.

According to Wanning's legend, every year on the first day of the seventh lunar month, Lord Yan will will open the "gate of hell" and let the dead souls go out of the underworld to see the warmth of the world and enjoy the worship of their loved ones. On the fifteenth day of the first month, that is, the fifteenth day of the seventh lunar month, the devil will call all the dead souls back to the underworld. The fifteenth day of July is also called "Ghost Collection Day". On that day, people in Wanning will fly lanterns and light lanterns with their dots to light the way for the dead souls who return to the underworld.

There are also two ways to put lanterns on Halloween. One is to let your children out with lanterns, take away the bad luck as far away as possible, and let these children never come back. At this time, it is a taboo to leave other people's lanterns at home. If they fall, they will be released again. Secondly, every family wants their dead ancestors to enter the Elysium. On Halloween, people will put lanterns to light the way to heaven for their ancestors who are preparing to fly to the underworld.

Setting off "fire lanterns" is a kind of enjoyment, but it is also a taboo in Hainan. "Fire lanterns" are called "ghost traps". Setting off "fire lanterns" is equivalent to sending away the plague and the unfortunate events of the past year. If the flight is unsuccessful, or it burns next to someone's house, the family will be in trouble. When setting off the "fire lamp", pregnant women, parturients and widows should avoid it and so on.

Lingshui people are very afraid that the sky lantern will fall after taking off and think it is an ominous omen. When the sky lantern falls on the roof of someone else's house, the family should not only "send the lantern" again, but also hold a banquet to invite relatives and friends to "break the money and eliminate disasters". In Wanning and other places, after watching the sky lantern slowly lift off, people eagerly wait for it to land on their roofs, because it represents good luck from heaven.