Lantern Parade

Buddha's Birthday, which is one of the biggest holidays here in Korea, is coming up this weekend and the celebrations are on the run. They started last weekend with Lotus Lantern Festival and filled the city and temples with hundrets of thousands lanterns.

We went to see the Lotus Lantern parade that went through the downtown Seoul. It lasted for hours and there were 100 000 lanterns in the parade.

My camera doesn't take good pictures of moving targets in the dark so the reality looked better than these pics!


Dragons...

Dancers with Dongdaemun gate in the back.

Thousands of people with lanterns. The women here are wearing the national clothes.

Some of the lanterns were a bit far fetched when it comes to buddhism. I don't know if dragons represent something in it.

And I don't know what these men are about. *Now I know, after my templestay, thay're guardians of the soul.*

Some of the lanterns had a message. This is for the unification of the two Koreas.

This pleads for slowing down global warming.

But some of the lanterns were just weird. What is this? Modern Buddha driving a convertible?

More dancers.

Traditional Korean drummers doing their thing drumming and running in a circle.

I have to say that my favorite part in parades is always the drumming group. No matter how amazing the visual stuff is, the drumming is what creates the feeling. The best thing was when you saw thousands of lanterns floating by, dancers dancing, listened to the drumming group coming closer to you, and still heard the last drumming group echoing from between the tall buildings.

Some people there gave away candies and stuff, and I got a lantern :)

After the parade we went to this cutest little restaurant called Lily Merlyn. The owner is truly a decorating enthusiast. There were all kinds of decorations, pictures and small objects around. And yeah, two birds!

We had a fruit salad with Raita. It was interesting with fruits, vegetables and salad dressing combined, but it was good.

When we left I forgot my lantern to the table. After walking a bit I remembered it and we went back to get it. When we got there the owner had already relit it and hung it to the gate and made it part of the decoration! Aww, but he gave it back to me.

:)