Mid-Autumn Lantern Festival

As an adopted child in a family where an adopted child was superfluous, I did not grow up with a lot of advantages. My toys were the imaginary friends which dwelt in my five fingers. Growing up marginalized turned me into a taciturn and morose child with very little incentive to belong and hence, I grew up without a sense of belonging, a trait which was to shadow my future.

Handmade lanterns from discarded peony paintings.

I was told, for I could not remember, that the father (not biological) with the vague shadowy face dotes on me. There were piggy-rides on his back but as he was always away, I had no recollection of him. However, there was the one year when he returned during the mid-autumn lantern festival. This was registered in the image of a dragon shaped lantern which he, in his magnanimity procured for me. It was the first and only lantern I ever had. During the night lantern parade, I was careful with the candle inside the lantern but not for long. Eventually, the dragon lantern burnt itself out while the other kids gathered around the flames watching it awestruck.

Recycled jam jars and empty tins form the base of these lanterns.

IKEA lantern

Its pretty to look at when lit.

Funny how the lantern festival brought back those poignant memories.