LIFE ON 'THE PENN': Lotus Lantern Festival

The Lotus Lantern Festival, not to be confused with the lantern festival at Cheonggyecheon, is a celebration of Buddha's birthday. Being Christian, not Buddhist, we were passive observers of this spectacle. (My children were highly vocal of the fact that we do not worship 'the buddha', as they say, when were at the temple. It was quite hilarious actually.) The festival is a three day affair involving lantern displays at different temples, lantern making, and of course the parade followed by its' after-party.

On Friday night I took the girls to see the lantern display at Jogyesa temple, which is the center of the festival. There was a massive ceiling around and above the courtyard created by the lanterns. They were everywhere, and they were beautiful.

Pass through tent with lanterns. I found from watching the
parade that these are examples of what the different groups would be carrying.

All colors!

The old giant tree got a make-over too!

Tunnel of lanterns that changed colors.

We bought tickets for reserved seating at the parade through the tour desk, and our seats were next to the parade emcees announcing in at least three different languages. They had a pre-show of two dancing groups and the Seoul police band to entertain us while we waited.

Then the 2 hour parade started. I have to admit, it was not what I expected. I thought it would be many floats of the large lanterns similar to what we saw on Cheonggyecheon. There were some of those, but it was mostly groups of people from different temples, schools, and other organizations carrying lanterns on poles. I took the girls down to the barricade and sat on the ground with them so we could have a better view than our second row seats allowed. This became an opportunity for a serious photo-op by one of the monks. He came over and handed my oldest his lantern, petted her, and was just standing there. That's when I realized we were surrounded by numerous massive camera lenses pointed at her. Then he gave my other daughter a whistle, more photos, and then I was wreathed with a necklace (prayer beads I know) and more photos. It was an interesting experience, and netted some great souvenirs.

Giving a whistle.

The parade was a fun experience, though I doubt we will go again. As the end of the parade passes by, you can join in and continue down to Jogyesa temple, where they have some dancing shows and shower down flower petals on the crowd and release floating lanterns. I would have loved to see the petals and especially the floating lanterns, but my desire to escape the crowd and get the kiddos to bed won the day. I'm not sure we would have been able to get close enough to the center of the action to see any of it anyway. Lots of photos for you!