Ancient paper lanterns find their roots in China and Japan. But presently, many people like them regardless of regional barriers and use them to decorate many events.

Chinese ornamental paper lanterns are generally placed on the ground or hung up after lighting them. These decorative lanterns vary in form and design. Traditionally these lanterns are white but they can now be seen in various colours. People use many lexis and maxims on lanterns to denote affections and send out messages. Generally, there are five types of Chinese paper lanterns in use now. The five groups are “tomato lights”, “Buddha gastronomy”, “crystal magic”, “baby’s bottom” and “rolling paper lanterns”.

The latter type is very large and generally used at religious festivals, while crystal magic lanterns in numerous shapes and designs shine brightly, reflecting their name. Tomato light lanterns are oval, very large, and typically red.

The places that these are popularly found in are bars and eateries, while at Christmas time baby’s bottom lanterns can frequently be observed as decorative lights. They are not so big when compared with the others. Japanese paper lanterns are mainly circular in shape, although many other shapes can be found. Generally white is the colour used, though red is not uncommon.

There is not much difference between Chinese and Japanese lanterns as many different colours are used in the making of both types. Unlike in the past, decorative paper lanterns are now used for many occasions and they come with various encouraging phrases on them as well. Since kanji is identical to Chinese letters, it is difficult to distinguish Chinese paper lanterns from Japanese.

Regardless of the festive season or festival, decorative lamps are now very common. Paper lanterns are able to increase happiness or peace of mind according to the occasion or festival in which they are used.

Cody Scholberg, a lighting expert, writes about paper lanterns. Check out this post on using rice paper lanterns !