Hoi An's lanterns are made of bamboo and silk. Skilled workers bend thin bamboo sticks into a frame, often shaped like a teardrop, a melon or a flower. They stretch a piece of coloured silk tightly over the frame and sew it in place. Inside goes a small light - traditionally a candle, today usually a tiny bulb.
Walk through Hoi An at night and the streets glow pink, orange, blue and red. Shopkeepers hang lanterns over their doorways. Restaurants line their courtyards with them. Whole bridges drip with them. The lanterns reflect off the river running through the middle of town, doubling the colours.
Once a month, on the full moon, the town turns off most of its electric lights. Only the lanterns stay on. Cars and motorbikes are kept off the central streets, and families walk together looking up at the soft glow. Children sometimes float small paper lanterns down the river for luck.
Making the lanterns is a real craft. Some Hoi An families have been doing it for many generations - grandparents teaching grandchildren how to choose the right bamboo, how to bend it without snapping it, and how to sew the silk so it doesn't wrinkle.