The Lotus Lantern Festival celebrates Buddha's birthday which, in Korea, was May 5th. (Funny enough, my Japanese friend told me that Japan celebrated Buddha's birthday in April!)
The celebration lasts for several weeks and includes street-side lantern decorations and small fireworks displays in local parks. On parade day, hanbok-clad Koreans meet at a stadium for the "Buddhist Cheer Rally." This consists of different local school children performing short K-pop dances that are projected onto a big screen, and ajimas (old aunties) waving pieces of colored construction paper in-sync to the music. This got boring fast, so I headed to the neighborhood of Dongdaemun--the official start of the evening's parade, and waited for the coming darkness to bring the promises lantern procession.
In this, I was not disappointed. My very-luckily-chosen vantage point ended up being a major merging point for the parade. So, on my left, I got to see the giant lanterns pass by and on my right I got to see traditional musicians and smaller hand-held lanterns before they all merged into one line at the end of the block. It was fantastic!
The large lanterns were truely impressive creations made mostly of paper. Many were pulled or pushed along by teams and some were motorized.
On my right, traditional musicians played drums and swung head tassles. People in hanbok carried lanterns and performed choreographed marches. Representatives from other nations marched in the parade, including a large group from Tibet.
Although most of the festivities are not worth a crowded subway ride to see, the parade is a must for anyone in the area of Seoul during the spring season.
Wow! I sure took a lot of pics, so I am going to split these into several posts. Let's start with the pics from the Buddhist Cheer Rally.
Some pre-parade lantern piles:
Decorations:
The crowd in boogie-motion:
Next time, I'll post some of the parade pics.
The celebration lasts for several weeks and includes street-side lantern decorations and small fireworks displays in local parks. On parade day, hanbok-clad Koreans meet at a stadium for the "Buddhist Cheer Rally." This consists of different local school children performing short K-pop dances that are projected onto a big screen, and ajimas (old aunties) waving pieces of colored construction paper in-sync to the music. This got boring fast, so I headed to the neighborhood of Dongdaemun--the official start of the evening's parade, and waited for the coming darkness to bring the promises lantern procession.
In this, I was not disappointed. My very-luckily-chosen vantage point ended up being a major merging point for the parade. So, on my left, I got to see the giant lanterns pass by and on my right I got to see traditional musicians and smaller hand-held lanterns before they all merged into one line at the end of the block. It was fantastic!
The large lanterns were truely impressive creations made mostly of paper. Many were pulled or pushed along by teams and some were motorized.
On my right, traditional musicians played drums and swung head tassles. People in hanbok carried lanterns and performed choreographed marches. Representatives from other nations marched in the parade, including a large group from Tibet.
Although most of the festivities are not worth a crowded subway ride to see, the parade is a must for anyone in the area of Seoul during the spring season.
Wow! I sure took a lot of pics, so I am going to split these into several posts. Let's start with the pics from the Buddhist Cheer Rally.
Some pre-parade lantern piles:
Decorations:
The crowd in boogie-motion:
The crowd eagerly awaiting the choreographed group-colored-paper waving:
One group of dancers seen in the distance performing for monks:
Next time, I'll post some of the parade pics.
