On the shortest night of the year, Poles created this mesmerizing – and “boomless” – alternative to our annual fireworks mania. It was Poland’s attempt to beat the Guinness record for most paper lanterns launched at one time … and according to CNN, it appears they succeeded!
June 21, 2011 – the summer solstice – was when over 11,000 paper lanterns were launched from both banks of the Warta River in Poznan, Poland. I happened to find a post about this today, and was totally captivated by its slow-motion beauty.
I found three stunningly gorgeous videos (to fully appreciate their beauty, please be sure to view them in Full-Screen mode) of the event.
The first provides a better perspective of exactly what's going on:
This one is from the periphery:
And just in case you can't get enough: