Each year on the anniversary of my parents deaths, we light sky lanterns.

It has become a tradition.

Sky lanterns are whimsical and fun and light up the night sky taking with them a wish, a prayer and many many fond memories and because my parents remains are in urns in my closet, we have no where to go to sit and reflect.

That may change some day, but for now I like them close.

Lucas’ only concern was how high and far the lanterns would go and asked if they would reach heaven. Oh, my heart.

If you don’t know, wish lanterns are known by different names in different areas of the world and in the US and China they are most commonly known as sky lanterns.

The term sky lantern is a literal translation of the Chinese characters that are used in Chinese Kanji, but the sky lantern has been accepted into different areas of the world by different names.

Sky lanterns are traditionally used in Eastern Asia as part of religious or everyday celebrations, with a belief in their ability to bring good luck, and wishes coming true as the lanterns are released and sent up into the heavens, most spectacularly at large scale sky lantern festivals such as the Pingxi festival in Taiwan.

This preserve of traditional Taiwanese culture sees the gathering of thousands of people in the countryside in Taipei county to release sky lanterns. In line with traditional beliefs, the lanterns are thought to bring good luck and carry away troubles and worries into the sky.

Sky lanterns allow you to capture some of the magic of the Pingxi lantern festival and make your own wish as you launch a lantern.

I ordered our sky lanterns from skylantern.com, but many companies sell them. This post was NOT endorsed in anyway. 

Linking up with Sarah of The Sunday Spill and Greta of Gfunkified for their #iPPP weekly meme. Photos were taken with my iPhone 4s and are not filtered or edited.

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