Festivals such as Diwali and the Chinese Lantern Festival use the symbolism of illuminating lanterns as a representation for triumphing darkness with self-made light. The setting of lanterns symbolises the purification of an individual at the end of the year, keeping the bad experiences but also allowing for new goodness to come for the future self. And such, a phoenix that rises from her ashes is not a new being - just reborn with new vigor.