lantern festival 2010

so sunday was an enthralling day. the evening before i had just come from across town, only to discover that the lantern festival and parade were back in the same area the next day! oh well. what fun! i had a good time going back out to the area, this time i took the subway both ways and got a lot of reading done in the mean time (working on Bram Stoker's Dracula). in its entirety it was a great time. i'm glad i took the time again to go out there in the day and then stay through the evening! it was so awesome to see all the lights, lanterns and buddhist tradition. it's essentially the beginning of a celebration for buddha's birthday, celebrating the joy of the world and the hopes for good happenings and good people for the year(s) to come. it was fun to enjoy... check it:

monk action figures? not sure where they were going with this

the lantern canopy at the hosting temple

the hanging tags have well wishes for the future on them (for a 100,000won donation each?!)

the golden buddha was inside the temple, and the lanterns and tree outside... reflection pictures... hur

monks, just havin' a good time

serious sand art

sugar gliders!! we learned about these adorable marsupials in english class a few days after i saw one, i thought it was a baby lemure... gahhh so cute!

so after wandering around the festival area in Insadong, the parade started around 7:30 in dongdaemun, however just so you know it was a 3 hour long precession that didn't get to my area of town until about 8:30, so I caught myself a front row seat with some adorable 3rd graders and we talked about our favorite lanterns until the first monks carrying lanterns started to appear... it was all downhill from there. monks, teens, children, agimas and just about anyone who wanted to carry a lantern to the temple got to. and it got extravagant!

i really still am not really sure about this float lantern.

 the girls saying goodbye...

i left a few floats after the girls did, realizing that there was really never going to be an end to the procession of lanterns. so i picked my way back to the temple to see the festivities there, and view the magnitude of the lantern canopy all lit up. beautiful, even now to think about it.

i acquired those lanterns from this very happy lady who greeted and hugged me

korea