Bliss English Club

<Bliss Meeting Notice> “Story about Lantern Festival and Sky Lantern in DIY @平溪”by Ellen Huang

My Dear Blissers,

Are you ready to greet new challenges in English learning?

Are you willing to make self-improvement in expressing your ideas in English?

Yes, your voice is clearly heard!

We add new session into our regular meeing as follows:

*****However: Since the meeting activity of 2/11 will be extended from 8:30 am, the agenda will be revised accordingly.******

1.     Introduction on 2/11:

This Sat. is our Lantern Festival and also the day of sky Lantern festival @ Ping Xi (平溪) , take this chance , I would like to invite you all join with me to go to Ping Xi for a hiking in the morning , and our regular meeting in the afternoon @十分

2.     Agenda on 2/11:

08:30  Taipei Zoo MRT exit 1 木柵動物園MRT 一號出口會合 (逾時不候)

09:00   Take shuttle bus from Taipei Zoo to 十分 ( NT$50 )

10:00  Arrival @十分南山橋 and sign in to Sky Lantern festival 

       (NT$199 for 4  people get a sky Lantern ) 排晚上集體放天燈場次

10:30~12:00 Hiking @十分 Waterfall

12:00~13:00 Lunch

13:30~16:30 meeting & Sky Lantern DIY

Theme Talk Session:

Do you know how serious the Surplus Food problem is in Taiwan and around the world? And as a citizen of the earth , what we can do to save the Surplus Food problem from ourselves ?

17:00  Fly the Sky Lanterns made by ourselves 放我們自己做的天燈(三個)

18:00  Fly the Sky Lanterns prepared by festival 集體放天燈

http://skylantern.ntpc.gov.tw/%E5%A4%A9%E7%87%88%E7%AF%80%E6%B4%BB%E5%8B%95.html

18:30 Take shuttle bus back to Taipei Zoo 搭shuttle bus回木柵動物園 (晚餐自理)

3.     Sign-up Survey

We will have dinner @貓空 after we are back to Taipei zoo ; restaurant info will be provided aftersign-up survey.

Please sign up to following link before this Wednesday off , so that I can reserve the lunch and afternoon tea café accordingly .

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc5_iFmgjO3HXqQizqz2ru14U157jxgPC-3updOHpP9X-Gt1A/viewform

4.     Requirements:

Please print out enclosed documents for the meeting, or read through your handheld device during the meeting; hard copies will NOT be provided in the meeting.

(About Lantern Festival)

The Lantern Festival falls on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, usually in February or March in the Gregorian calendar. As early as the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 25), it had become a festival with great significance. This day's important activity is watching lanterns. Throughout the Han Dynasty (206 BC-AD 220), Buddhism flourished in China. One emperor heard that Buddhist monks would watch sarira, or remains from the cremation of Buddha's body, and light lanterns to worship Buddha on the 15th day of the 1st lunar month, so he ordered to light lanterns in the imperial palace and temples to show respect to Buddha on this day. Later, the Buddhist rite developed into a grand festival among common people and its influence expanded from the Central Plains to the whole of China.
 

　　Till today, the lantern festival is still held each year around the country. Lanterns of various shapes and sizes are hung in the streets, attracting countless visitors. Children will hold self-made or bought lanterns to stroll with on the streets, extremely excited. "Guessing lantern riddles “is an essential part of the Festival. Lantern owners write riddles on a piece of paper and post them on the lanterns. If visitors have solutions to the riddles, they can pull the paper out and go to the lantern owners to check their answer. If they are right, they will get a little gift. The activity emerged during people's enjoyment of lanterns in the Song Dynasty (960-1279). As riddle guessing is interesting and full of wisdom, it has become popular among all social strata.
 

People will eat yuanxiao, or rice dumplings, on this day, so it is also called the "Yuanxiao Festival."Yuanxiao also has another name, tangyuan. It is small dumpling balls made of glutinous rice flour with rose petals, sesame, bean paste, jujube paste, walnut meat, dried fruit, sugar and edible oil as filling. Tangyuan can be boiled, fried or steamed. It tastes sweet and delicious. What’s more, tangyuan in Chinese has a similar pronunciation with "tuanyuan”, meaning reunion. So people eat them to denote union, harmony and happiness for the family.

元宵節：festival of lanterns，lantern festival dumplings
元宵： the rice glue ball
燈謎：riddles written on lanterns
燈具：lamps and lanterns
燈花： snuff
燈籠褲： bloomers galligaskins knickers pantalets plus fours
燈籠： lantern scaldfish
燈塔： beacon lighthouse pharos
燈語： lamp signal
燈油： kerosene lamp oil

(About Sky Lantern )

A sky lantern (simplified Chinese: 天灯; traditional Chinese: 天燈; pinyin: tiāndēng), also known as Kongming lantern or Chinese lantern, is a small hot air balloon made of paper, with an opening at the bottom where a small fire is suspended.

In Asia and elsewhere around the world, sky lanterns have been traditionally made for centuries, to be launched for play or as part of long-established festivities. The name "sky lantern" is a translation of the Chinese name but they have also been referred to as sky candles or fire balloons. However the latter term is also used to refer to balloon munitions used during World War II.

·        In China and Taiwan, 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.

The general design is a thin paper shell, which may be from about 30 cm to a couple of metres across, with an opening at the bottom. The opening is usually about 10 to 30 cm wide (even for the largest shells), and is surrounded by a stiff collar that serves to suspend the flame source and to keep it away from the walls.

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.

According to the sinologist and historian of science Joseph Needham, the Chinese experimented with small hot air balloons for signaling from as early as the 3rd century BC, during the Warring States period. Traditionally, however, their invention is attributed to the sage and military strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD)^[1]whose reverent term of address was Kongming. He is said to have used a message written on a sky lantern to summon help on an occasion when he was surrounded by enemy troops. For this reason they are still known in China as Kongming lanterns (孔明燈, 孔明灯, kǒngmíng dēng). (However, some claim that the name actually comes from the lantern's resemblance to the hat Kongming is traditionally shown to be wearing.)

Sky lanterns are a possible explanation for some UFO sightings through the years.

In ancient China, sky lanterns were strategically used in wars. However, later on, non-military applications were employed as they became popular with children at festivals. These lanterns were subsequently incorporated into festivals like the Chinese Mid-Autumn and Lantern Festivals.

In Brazil, sky lanterns (balão in Portuguese) were a traditional feature of the winter holidays (Festas Juninas) at the end of June. It is claimed that custom was brought to Brazil from Portugal by colonists in the 16th century, and is still strong in Portugal, especially in Porto. The June holidays tradition also includes firecrackers and fireworks, another Chinese invention; so it is conjectured that these elements may have been brought from China by Portuguese explorers around 1500. The design and customs of Brazilian sky lanterns are modified to suit their festivals.

Frei Bartolomeu de Gusmão, using a large scale version of these lanterns, was the first man to fly a Hot air balloon in August 8, 1709, in the hall of the Casa da Índia in Lisbon, Portugal, long before the Montgolfier brothers.

Brazilian sky lanterns were 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 metres across, would usually require the cooperation of several people, to hold the balloon fully stretched until it was fully inflated.

To represent the Star of Bethlehem during Christmas season, as part of celebrations sky lanterns are released into the night sky with hopes towards a new year. In Bengal and Northeast India, Buddhist people celebrate their Probarona Purnima which signifies end of their three-month lent by releasing lighted sky lanterns (fanush), it is the second largest festival of the Buddhist community. During Diwali festival (The festival of Light) eco-friendly sky lanterns are used for celebrations along with fireworks.

Dangers

Sky lantern litter at Scottish Natural Heritage's Muir of Dinnet national nature reserve

A sky lantern may land when the flame is still alight, making it a fire hazard. In typical designs, as long as the lantern stays upright the paper will not get hot enough to ignite, but if the balloon is tilted (say, by the wind or by hitting some object), it may catch fire while still in the air. All the paper will usually burn in a few seconds, but the flame source may remain lit until it hits the ground.

After the balloon lands, the leftover thin wire frame will rust away very slowly, remaining a hazard to animals that may swallow it.^[6] In 2009 British company Sky Orbs Chinese Lanterns developed lanterns with a bio-degradable fireproof rope in place of metal wire. Many other European manufacturers adopted similar designs. In 2012 the same company released a patented design with fireproof base following reports of fires caused by lanterns.^[8]

Sky lanterns have also been alleged to pose a danger to aircraft.^[9]

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 six million pounds 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 CCTV.^[10][11] In response to the fire, Poundland decided to stop selling sky lanterns and recalled their entire stock on 6 July 2013.^[12]

Legal status

Despite their use for centuries, there has been growing concern by some about the potential danger to cause crop or building fires and even harm animals that may eat their remains. Despite the general lack of prevalence some places have banned them for these reasons.

The city of Sanya in China banned sky lanterns due to their hazards toward aircraft and airspace navigation.^[14]

It is illegal to launch a sky lantern in most parts of Germany; where use is not illegal, as in Herford, it is necessary to obtain advance permission from local authorities. In Austria, it is illegal to produce, sell, import, or distribute them.^[15] 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 3 years in jail since 1998.^[9]

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.^[16]

Sky Lanterns have also been banned in Kittitas County, Washington due to fire concerns on 20 June 2013.^[17]

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