BACK in the old days, if a child could afford to parade around with a lantern during mooncake festival, he or she was considered coming from a well-off family.
When I was a boy growing up in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, the tung-loong (lantern) festival was something that I would look forward to after the top, marble, kite and firecracker season.
Why? Because this is the only time in my growing years that I get to play with fire in a controlled way.
Lanterns provided cheap entertainment as boxes of candles were sold at 30sen each.
But there was a problem with the lanterns that were made from paper and thin coloured plastic sheets.
They were fire hazards and often burst in flames when not properly handled.
To overcome this problem, many of the poorer neighbourhood children came up with a brilliant idea.
They took an empty coconut shell and placed a candle in it and created a new fad.
In no time, coconut lanterns became a craze and every boy in the neighbourhood can be seen carrying one during the mooncake festival.
Spontaneous lantern combustion became an issue of the past.
Coconut lanterns were never short in supply as there were plenty of coconut shells at sundry shops around the neighbourhood.
The humble halves were cleaned. With a 15-sen crafting blade, the boys skilfully crafted their coconut lanterns.
Crude as it seems, the coconut lanterns were shock-proof and fire-retardant.
They are also environmentally friendly as the shells became fuel on the charcoal stove where the boys will gather to roast sweet potatoes and dried squid tentacles.
As time progresses, the coconut lantern remains as a memory of my childhood. Each time I think about it, I smiled as this crude toy that cost next to nothing.
No comments:
Post a Comment