Lantern / Red Lantern

A light and colour object — the fire element applied as illumination rather than as flame. Lanterns introduce the fire element through light and through the red that is conventionally attached to them. They are entrance and festival objects rather than interior ones in the traditional use.

This database documents placement principles, not outcomes. A light and colour object — the fire element applied as illumination rather than as flame. Light is the tradition's preferred fire remedy precisely because it adds the element without the hazards of a flame — a practical preference that runs consistently through the sources.

The red lantern's association is festival and household custom rather than classical placement. What the tradition supplies is the fire classification and the general rule that light is the cleanest way to add fire to a space. It is grouped under Fire (火) in the five-element system.