The first statement: Kongming Lantern was naturally invented by Kongming. It is said that Zhu Gekongming was besieged by Sima Yi in Pingyang and could not send troops out of the city for help. Zhu Gekongming calculated the wind direction, made a flying lantern, tied it with information for help, and then escaped as expected, so the Kongming lantern was handed down.

The second statement: According to legend, during the Five Dynasties, when she and her husband were fighting in Fujian, they made a box with bamboo sticks, pasted paper on it and made a headlight. Burning turpentine was placed on the chassis, and the lamp was blown into the sky by hot air as a military contact signal. This kind of resin lamp is called Kongming Lantern in Sichuan. This kind of lantern looks like Zhuge Liang's hat, so it is called Kongming Lantern.

Of course, these are just the two most common explanations. Different places have different legends. In addition, the custom of flying Kongming lanterns varies from place to place. Let's have a look!

Ten minutes:

According to the oral accounts of the elders in Shiliao area, bandits occurred in Shiliao area in the early Qing Dynasty. Being located in the mountainous area, all the villagers fled to the mountains. After the bandits left, the people who stayed in the village used sky lanterns as signals at night to inform the villagers who had taken refuge in the mountains that they could go down the mountain and go home. This is also the way to report peace to the villagers. Therefore, villagers in ten areas also call sky lanterns "blessing lanterns" or "safety lanterns".

Hainan:

In the villages around Wenchang, Wanning and Danzhou in Hainan, people have the custom of tying lanterns and putting them out. Because the Wenchang accent "Sky Lantern" and "Tianding" are homophonic, the boy family spontaneously formed a "Lantern Delivery Team", using lanterns with auspicious characters, such as male lanterns, human lanterns, hand lanterns, flower basket lanterns, carp lanterns, rare ancient lanterns, etc., beating gongs and drums, and walked around the village to the temple, indicating that they would be sent to "a prosperous population and a prosperous family scene".

Hakka

Hakka custom has the custom of flying "Kongming Lantern" around the Lantern Festival to pray for happiness and prosperity in the coming year. Each Kongming lantern represents a born baby.