One Sunday morning last fall we all sat in the papermaking library of their Brookline, Massachusetts home, surrounded by hundreds of books, files, slide sheets, and publications on paper history and research. I asked them to share some of their most memorable stories of papermaking folklore with me. FIRE BALLOONS The Koretskys' faces lit up as they described to me their experience of the fire balloon festival in Taunggyi Shan State, Myanmar (formerly Burma). The festival takes place during Tazaungdaing, an important religious festival celebrated throughout Myanmar on the first full moon days of November. This traditional festival has taken place for hundreds of years in villages and towns and is an important part of Burmese folklore. The festival marks the end of Buddhist Lent when it is believed that Buddha went to heaven to preach, then returned to earth. The fire balloons are lit as an offering to welcome Buddha back to earth, and as a way to ward off evil spirits. There is also a hot-air balloon competition in which various teams work for months to make fire balloons that they assemble from many sheets of handmade paper glued together. The launching of the balloons occurs during the night and also during the day. During the night the balloons are in the traditional elliptical shape and may be as tall as 30 feet in height. These night balloons are made of mulberry paper handmade using the pouring method. The day balloons, according to the rules, may be made from handmade mulberry paper or from commercial paper, and are in the shape of animals, fish, birds, and occasionally humans. All the balloons have a metal circle at the base to which a burning element is attached. The burning element is metal wrapped with discarded monk robes saturated with kerosene. The balloons are inflated by igniting the fire element with a burning torch, which causes their interior to fill with hot air. This results in the expansion of the balloon, and its subsequent rise into the heavens. Many balloons also have connected tails at the base with embedded fireworks and produce a vivid display when the fireworks go off as they ascend skyward. \[Editor's note: For color pictures and more information on the fire balloons, see Elaine Koretsky, "Festival of the Fire Balloons," Hand Papermaking vol. 21 no. 1 (Summer 2006): 11–15.\] On one of their trips, Elaine, Donna, and Sidney commissioned a group of papermakers to make them two balloons in the shape of an aardvark. The Koretskys sent the papermakers a picture of aardvarks, but the finished balloons looked like elephants! One of the balloons was sent up to the sky successfully while they were in Burma for the festival and the other one they brought back home to Boston. Singing How to Make Paper In Guizhou province, China, the Koretskys observed the making of mulberry paper by the Dong minority people. They explained to me how the papermaker poured pulp into a mould that was attached by a hook at one end to a tree branch, while holding the other end of the mould with the free hand. The Dong do not have a written language, and the paper they made was Spirit paper made of bamboo fiber, 9 x 4¼ inches, 7 x 5¾ inches, and 6¼ x 4½ inches, from Guizhou province, China. Photo: Kathleen Tyler. used for purposes other than writing. They pass down information from generation to generation by means of songs describing processes such as papermaking. This tradition is hundreds of years old. The Koretskys listened to eight women sing a song describing all the steps in the making of a sheet of paper. They sat on chairs in a row, singing for about an hour, with one woman leading the group. The tradition of singing to record history and techniques is part of Dong folklore. The Dong mainly use their handmade paper for burial ceremonies. Years after burying their dead, they dig up the bones, clean them, and wrap them with handmade paper before reburying them. For everyday living, paper is used as insulation for their houses, or to line clothing. The Dong also use their paper to make elaborately decorated sewing kits that hold materials, needles, and tools to be used in embroidery or weaving. The items are encased in four pockets, each a marvel of origami. Each pocket is folded so that it pops up into a square container with 2-inch walls. Inside, the pockets contain needles, sequins, and threads. Two large slidein pockets are used to store larger items. The sewing kit is decorated with colored ink drawings of flowers, fruit, and birds. The tradition of making these lovely sewing kits from paper is vanishing, but the Koretskys were fortunate to see a demonstration of the technique by an elderly Dong villager during one of their several expeditions to the Dong Minority regions of Guizhou Province. Spirit Paper The Koretskys showed me many samples of spirit paper that they collected during their travels throughout China, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam, and other parts of Asia. Spirit paper has been used throughout Asia, over the centuries, in ceremonies such as funerals and weddings. During memorial services, spirit paper is burned to provide useful necessities to deceased family members residing in the afterworld. In Northern Thailand, they ran across a funeral procession that consisted of a dozen monks, family members, and friends. The Koretskys decided to join the procession, which subsequently stopped in a wooded area. The body of the deceased was placed upon a wood pyre. The monks poured gasoline upon the cremation pyre and ignited it. The monks noticed the Koretskys as spectators of the event and beckoned them to join in the ceremony. Elaine was given a small sheet of spirit paper, and had on its surface an abstract design. Elaine was asked to join the line of mourners; each one approached the pyre and placed the spirit paper in the fire. The spirit paper is typically 5 inches square, or a 5 x 7-inch rectangle. The paper is primarily bamboo fiber, although other fibers such as mulberry and rice straw are sometimes used. The surface of the spirit paper is decorated with abstract or concrete images and is often covered with gold or silver paint. Frequently the papermakers will drill one or more holes into the stacks of spirit paper in order to allow the bad spirits, who are invisible and live in the paper, to be released. Good spirits, on the other hand, are welcome to reside in the paper. In Vietnam and also in China, paper is constructed in two and three dimensions to mimic objects such as TV sets, motorbikes, refrigerators, and other material items that are deemed to be useful to a person in the afterlife. The paper object is either life-sized or in miniature form, made from handmade or commercial paper, and burned ceremonially to send them off with the departed. The Koretsky regaled me with endless stories of how paper is central to folklore and folk traditions in the countless places they visited in their quest to document and study hand papermaking all over the world. By sharing their experiences through their museum, films, publications, demonstrations, and their lively presentations, the Koretskys have been extraordinary and invaluable storytellers, preserving and disseminating world papermaking folklore.
