Lantern {<pavoc, so called for its shinivrj) occurs only in John xviii, 3, where the party of men which went out of Jerusalem to apprehend Jesus in the garden of Gethsemanc is described as being provided "with lan- terns and torches :" it there probably denotes any kind of covered light, in distinction from a simple taper or common house-light, as well as from a flamVieau (conip. Athena;us, xv, 58; Philosen. Gloss.). Lanterns were much employed by the Romans in military operations ; two of bronze have been found among the ruins of Her- cidaneum and Pompeii. They are cylindrical, with translucent horn sides, the lamp within being furnished with an extinguisher {iim.\t\\,Lict. of Class. Ant.\).b()S). In the article Lamp it has been shown that the Jewish lantern, or, if we may so call it, lamp-frame, was similar to that now in use among the Orientals. As the streets of Eastern towns are not lighted at night, and never
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Ancient Roman Lantern. (On the left is a separate view of one of the corner-pieces ; on the right is the extin- guisher.)
Modern Oriental Lantern, were so, lanterns are used to an extent not known among lis. Siicii, doubtless, was also Ibrmerly the case ; and it is therefore remarkable that in but a single instance the
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Ancient Egyptian Lantern. Egyptian monuments offer any trace of the use of a lantern. In this case it seems to be borne by the night-watch, or civic guard, and is sha]icd like those in com- mon use among ourselves (Wil- kinson, ,1 nc. Eff. ii. 72\ A simi- lar lantern is at this day used in Persia, and perhaps does not ma- terially differ from those men- tioned in Scripture. More com- mon at present in Western Asia is a large folding lantern of wax- ed cloth strained over rings of Ordinary Eastern Lan- wire, with a top and bottom of terns. tinned copper. It is usually about
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two feet long by nine inches in diameter, and is carried by servants before their masters, who often pay visits to their friends at or after supper-time. In many Eastern towns the municipal law forbids any one to be in the streets after nightfall without a lantern. — Kitto.
Lantern, in Italian or modern architecture, a small structure on the top of a dome, or in other similar situ- ations, for the purpose of admitting light, promoting ventilation, or lor ornament. In Gothic architecture the term is sometimes applied to louvres on the roofs of halls, etc., but it usually signiiies a tower which has the whole height, or a considerable portion of the interior, open to view from the ground, and is lighted by an up- per tier of windows: lantern-towers of this kind are common over the centre of cross churches. The same name is also given to the light open erections often placed on the tops of towers ; these sometimes have spires rising from them, but in such cases they are less perforated with windows, Lantei-nes des Moris occur only in the church-yards on the Continent ; they were simply pillars, with a place for a light on the top simi- lar to small light-houses, and it is not improbable that something of the kind M-as adopted in the early Koman cemeteries, and so has given origin to some of the Irish round towers, which may well have been used, at least in some instances, for this purpose. — Parker, Glossary of Architecture, s.v.
St Ilt'eu'^, \oik Lanterns, Feast of, is a Chinese festival, observed in the evening of the 15th day of January by every Chinese of respectability, who illiuninates, with a great number of wax candles, a large lantem, displaying more or less splendor, according to the circumstances of the owner. Some of them are valued at several thousand dollars, on account of the decorations bestowed on them, and are from twenty to thirty feet in diameter. The Chinese ascribe the rise of this festival to a sad acci- dent which happened in the family of a certain man- darin, whose daughter, as she was walking one evening on the bank of a river, fell in and was drowned. Her father, in order to find her, embarked on board a vessel, carrying with him a great number of lantenis. The whole night was spent in search of her, Init to no pur- pose. However, this ceremony is annually kept up in memory of the mandarin's daughter. In some respects this festival resembles that obser\-ed by the ancients in
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LAODICEA
honor of Cores, when her votaries ran up and down the streets witli lighted torches in their hands, in imita- tion of the liurry and contusion of the goddess when in quest of her daughter Proserpine. Otliers ascribe the rise of this Chinese festival to an extravagant project of one of tlieir emperors, wlio shut himself up with his concubines in a magniticent palace, Avhich he illumi- nated with a great number of splendid lanterns. The Chinese, scandalized at his behavior, demolished his palace, and hung the lanterns all over the city. But, however uncertain its origin, it seems pretty detinitely established that the lantern-festival was observed as early as A.D. 700 (comp. ^^'illiams, Middle Kingdom, ii. 82).'
One jieculiar custom of this feast is the grant of greater license to manned women, who on other even- ings, by Chinese custom, are obliged to confine them- selves to their homes. The goddess called Mother (q. V.) is worshipped by them at this time, particularly by married but childless women, " expecting or desiring, as a consequence of such devotional acts to ' Mother,' to have male offspring." See Broughton, BibUot^eca Hist. Sarni, ii.-i; Doolittle, /S'oc!«^ Z(/e of the Chinese (New York, 1.S67. 2 vols. 12mo), ii. 34 sq. (J. H. W.)