No one denies the primacy of China in the creation of paper, threshold, silk and more. But among these inventions, there are those who, in principle, do not have much practical importance today, but are still popular both in China and far beyond its borders. One of them is the world-famous Chinese Sky Lanterns, or in Chinese – Hum Loy. These are such light paper lanterns that, when burned, soar into the air.
The ancient peculiar civilization of China brought to the modern world many inventions that significantly influenced the development of humanity and which are quite successfully used by people in our time.
According to the ancient Chinese tradition, it is believed that by launching the Heavenly Flashlight into the night sky, a person cleans his soul and creates an invisible connection with the souls of relatives and close people who have gone to another world. The Chinese have carefully honored this custom and for many centuries now the Chinese Heavenly Lanterns have been used by them during national, religious, as well as many secular holidays. At many festivals, it has already become a custom to launch these flying lights.
The appearance of such an unusual tradition is interpreted differently by ancient manuscripts and numerous legends. However, the most frequently mentioned and so to speak canonical is the legend about the events of the XI century.
In those days, in one of their Tibetan settlements, a large number of monks lived. Just like ordinary people, monks from light to dark worked in the fields growing rice and vegetables not only for themselves, but for all the villagers. The monks tried by their work to help the people of the village. But there was little land in the mountains, and besides, for many years in a row there was a drought, then torrential rains. From year to year the harvest was getting poorer and poorer. The time has come when he was not enough for food for all. Despondency and hopelessness began to take hold of people’s hearts.
Every evening, the monks prayed fervently, asking God for mercy and salvation from the coming famine, but in vain, as if God had not heeded their prayers. Then the senior community, a monk named Ji Lin, to somehow encourage the monks and all the inhabitants of this small village, decided to supplement the evening evening prayers with torches. He came to this from those considerations, because from even earlier centuries fire was considered sacred in China. The forefathers of the monks were fire worshipers, they said that fire purifies the thoughts of a person, that fire blesses a person and gives him new strength.
And indeed, whether these rituals helped, or if God heard their prayers, but something changed in the minds of people. They stopped thinking about the hopelessness of their existence, began to work with tripled strength and in the very first year the harvest allowed everyone to be full. People had faith that everything would work out. Then the monks, led by Zhi Lin, began once a week to hold holidays consecrated by fire, in which the entire population of the village participated.
In order that the fire ritual was more symbolic, the monks made special designs from bamboo and rice paper with a small wick made of wax-soaked paper attached at the bottom. The air inside this structure was heated by the burning of the wick, and this improvised flashlight went up and continued to burn for a rather long time during the flight. These lights flying into the sky delighted everyone and filled their hearts with good and hope for a bright future.
After a few years, a small impoverished village turned into a large prosperous settlement. The locals, in gratitude, even tried to free the monks from the field work, but for centuries the existing structure did not allow the monks to be freeloaders and they continued to work, but mostly for their food. And most of the time was spent in prayers. Over time, this custom of organizing holidays of flying lights spread throughout China, but of course it is held not every week, but quite often, at every opportunity.
This tradition of launching flying lanterns into the skies from China passed on to many nations and also became a custom. And today, during weddings, birthdays, and on any other holidays, people of Asian countries send these Sky Lanterns with joy and hope into the night sky, making their most intimate desires.
Due to the beauty of this ritual, he, along with the holiday fireworks, by the way, also coming from China, eventually settled down in many countries around the world. China has established a whole industry of manufacturing flying lanterns, but of course with the help of new technologies, which enterprising Chinese sell in all countries of the world.
