I never in my wildest dreams would have imagined that I would be working in a place that would give me the day off to worship Buddha. As it turns out, Buddha is kind of a big deal in Korea. So much so, that his birthday is a national holiday. To celebrate this holiday, Chinese lanterns are put up weeks before the actual holiday. In some areas, they line the streets and are lit up at night. There is also a huge lantern parade in Insadong, one of the more traditional neighborhoods in Seoul. I went with some friends, and really enjoyed it. The parade was kind of long (well over 2 hours at least), but it was unlike anything I had ever seen, and definitely worth the experience. Like most parades, it was really random, and had a lot of variety. There were definitely thousands of people in the parade. Some were carrying lanterns, flags, or playing music. Others were either on floats, or pushing floats.
Here are some pictures I took of the event.
Lanterns!
Policemen getting ready for the parade
Parade
Every once in a while, someone who was walking in the parade would give away their lantern to someone in the crowd. For me the coolest part of the parade was when a woman dressed in a hanbok (traditional Korean clothing) gave me her lantern. I wish I could have gotten a picture with her, but she had to keep moving, so I felt bad asking. My friend Bronwyn also got a sweet lantern from some monks (it actually had a switch and a lightbulb inside, whereas mine had a candle), but after the parade they tracked her down and said that she had to give it back because they reuse them each year.
Finally, I took a video during the parade. It's pretty poor quality, but will give you a good idea of what the parade was like.
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