Classification: Regional Custom
Location: Karee Desert
Frequency: Annual
Origin: Unrecorded

Once each year, a loose migration leaves Memphis for the Karee.

Artists travel with musicians. Dreamers with runaways. Vans, tents and caravans gather along the old road until the desert briefly acquires a city of its own.

The gathering continues through the night.

Near dawn, red lanterns are released into the sky.

No organising body appears to claim responsibility for the tradition, and explanations for its meaning vary considerably.

Remembrance.

Good fortune.

Love.

The dead.

The beginning of something.

Perhaps inevitably, someone eventually suggested all of the above.

Archivist's Note

The desert keeps most things that are given to it.

The lanterns are allowed to leave.