I raced home from school, not bothering to even go to my
room and put my things away and rather just left them in my basket. I had a van
to catch. I was invited to go to Mae Jo for the Yi Peng festival. Thousands of
lit paper lanterns are released at the same moment into the sky. This Buddhist
holiday may be horrible for the environment, but is amazing to witness and be a
part of anyway.
Highlights from the trip included traffic, parking in a
field and walking along side the parade, seeing students and numerous other
people we know, sitting on the grass for several hours, good conversation (in
other news, Thailand burned down today…), cotton candy and 7-11 cookies.
Oh, did I mention the giant paper lanterns all simultaneously
let into the sky? There is no doubt about it, that was the highlight. After
chanting and meditation led by some monks, thousands of paper lanterns were
lit. We were told to make a wish and release our enormous paper lanterns into
the sky. It was amazing to stand among the lanterns as they were being lit. The
temperature began to rise in the space between lanterns as we waited for enough
hot air to build up. When were told the moment to let go, well there is no way
to really explain it.
As the lanterns all around you lift up, you are drawn to the
sky. For a moment, you too feel like you are starting to float away. This
intense wave of happiness flowed through me and everyone I talked to about it.
It was actually one of the most overwhelming experiences I have had. I didn’t
know where to look, let along have the ability to focus my camera. As a result,
there unfortunately are numerous shots of swirling lights.
We watched the lanterns float up into the sky in what seemed
a never ending line. The breeze blowing them up and off into the distance, away
from the nearly full moon. People
continued to let off lanterns on their own, and we watched them drift to join
the others that now were starting to resemble the stars in the Milky Way. There was a brief fireworks show, in which we
spent most of our time wondering why the lanterns stuck in the trees didn’t
start fires.
After lighting our last lantern and watching it join the
others in the inky black sky, we joined to mob headed back to the parking
areas. We prayed that we wouldn’t get
hit by some kid’s fireworks along the way, and miraculously made it out alive
and intact. After getting home, I sat on the balcony for an hour, watching the
night sky fill with paper lanterns and fireworks.
