Festivals

Star lantern

The star lantern is built from strips of bamboo covered in red and yellow cellophane, with a little candle in the middle, held up on a long stick. Some years parents bought one; other years the whole family whittled and glued their own.

On the full moon of the eighth lunar month, all the kids in the neighbourhood paraded their lanterns up and down the street, singing and banging little drums. Tilt it the wrong way and the candle fell over, the paper caught fire, and the whole lantern went up in flames and tears.

Do you remember? Did your lantern ever catch fire?

💬 Everyone's memories

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