Sky Lanterns
Warm, flickering orange lights drifting silently with the wind — paper hot-air lanterns released at celebrations.
Tell-tale sign
Orange or amber flickering lights that drift in the same direction as the wind, often several together, then fade or wink out one by one.
What you see
One or more glowing orange lights rising and then drifting horizontally, all moving the same way at the same speed. The glow flickers like a flame, and the lights climb, fade, and disappear rather than flying off at speed.
They're often reported in clusters after weddings, festivals, New Year, and vigils — several lanterns released together look like a formation of craft.
Why it happens
A sky lantern is a small paper hot-air balloon with an open flame at the base. The flame heats the air inside, the lantern rises, and then it goes wherever the wind takes it. The flickering you see is the naked flame; the 'winking out' is the flame burning out or the paper catching and falling.
Because they're silent, warm-colored, and move as a group, they read convincingly as a fleet of glowing objects — especially at a distance where the paper shell is invisible.
How to confirm
Ask whether there was an event nearby, and watch the motion: lanterns drift with the wind, never against it, and never maneuver. The color is the warm orange of a flame, not the white or colored lights of aircraft.
Clustered, silent, flickering orange lights drifting downwind and burning out one by one are sky lanterns.