For those from Thailand and China living in the UK as well as all others that are Buddhist, today is a very important day. Today is Visakha Bucha day which is not only the birthday of Buddha but also the day he died. In fact, Buddha lived exactly 80 years and on the day of his birth and death he also attained full enlightenment on his 36th birthday. For Buddhists, today is sacred as it is all things of Buddha wrapped up in one day and is a symbol for what Buddhism is.

For those that cannot make the pilgrimage to Thailand for Visakha Bucha day events, celebrating the day in their homes or with others in local temples around the UK. While practices vary between countries, one common item is using colourful lanterns to symbolize the Buddha, his teachings and disciples. Sky lanterns fromwww.NightskyLanterns.co.uk are an excellent way to take this practice and make it work far from the traditional areas of the world for Buddhism. The traditional white sky lanterns, available here:http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/sky-lanterns/white-traditional-sky-lanterns/prod_8.html are very similar to those used during the time the Buddha was alive and are an excellent way to symbolize the Buddha.

As an alternative to launching floating lanterns into the air, we also sell water lanterns. Chinese lanterns for water use have been around for thousands of years and the symbolism of flowers in Buddhist lore is very common. From flowers being part of homage to the Buddha to simply bringing joy to others, night sky lantern’s water lanterns are an excellent way to accomplish either of these goals. The flower lanterns are available here:http://www.nightskylanterns.co.uk/water-lanterns/water-lanterns-flowers-/prod_30.html and can be purchased in various colours and can be had as singles or in packs and multiples of 6. These floating lanterns can be used in water and will float for hours and can be reused if care is given when retrieving them.

As a way to help bring joy to others, any of our floating lanterns are a good choice. From the humble traditional sky lanterns mentioned earlier to our fun but smile inducing smiley face novelty lanterns, there are sky lanterns for anyone’s taste. Our Large sky lanterns, Giant sky lanterns and Mega Cube lanterns are all excellent choices for making the biggest impact on the biggest number of people and can be custom decorated with markers or even by an airbrush artist prior to launch. Seeing one of these giant floating lanterns with a message about the day or simply with the word “smile” on it will mesmerize and bring joy to all of those that see it floating. With a range of 15 miles or more, this is a very big impact and a large launch of lanterns will really get people’s attention.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 28th, 2010 at 7:12 AM and is filed under General News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.