thin king

A lantern is an enclosed covering surrounding a light which can shine out through it.

A lantern may be of any shape and made with any material. Its purpose is to protect the source of light, functioning as a lamp. A lantern is usually suspended; it may be portable, hung in position, suspended from a height, or even airborne by wind.

It is inexhaustible to describe the types of lanterns ever made, but every lantern need to allow the light to shine through or else it is not functional but ornamental.

One important criterion is the purpose of the lantern which conditions its shape and materials to be used. Lanterns may be light for carrying about, sturdy against the elements, all especially to meet the purpose of its use. Lanterns for celebrations are aesthetically stylish, beautiful and colourful, especially for festivals, for weddings and even somber for funerals, or accordingly for whatever other purposes. Lanterns may be made of paper, of plastic, of glass or of netting, or even foldable. Some are made so light that they become airborne due to the warmer air inside the lanterns and float skywards.

But as yet, lanterns made of wood have not been seen nor heard of; that is, not until now. Shown here is a lantern crafted from a short length of wood which came from a hybrid tree of chempedak and jackfruit; this wood is hard. A paper lantern literally wraps fire with paper, this wood lantern keeps fire within wood.

This chempedak and jackfruit hybrid tree produces a much better fruit than its parents. The whole fruit is smaller than the jackfruit but larger than the chempedak. The flesh surrounding each individual seed is firm, succulent, juicy and delicious.