When I first arrived, I went to Temple in the Insadong neighborhood. I had been to this temple before back in March just after I arrived in Korea. at that time it was already breath-takingly beautiful, but now it is one enormous shrine to buddha and his followers. There must have been at least 600-700 hand made paper lanterns covering the courtyards as if they were a rainbow colored ceiling. with every color imaginable, the lanterns all were made by buddhists who came to the temple to pay their respects and ask for wishes. While at the temple, I was able to witness buddhist followers bow, chant, cry, sing, and bless their god by dousing a statue of buddha with Holy Water. It was quite a site and truly beautiful.
Another highlight of visiting the temple was that they had FREE LANTERN MAKING for visitors. I had no idea this would be going on..but Nicola and I sure glad it was! After I met up with her later in the afternoon we returned and made our own lanterns...they are beautiful and even more so when I lit mine later that evening. After making some lanterns and wandering around the narrow streets littered with tourists and buddhists partaking in activities I met up with the rest of my friends and staked out a spot for the annual Lantern Parade. We found a spot along the major parade route and had enough time to grab some italian food for dinner, some cheap Korean beer, and waited for the parade to pass by. We were lucky enough to get a spot right near a main stage which had performances going on while we waited for the parade to arrive. It had been stated that the parade would last for 2 hours - from 7 pm until 9 pm. However, it did not reach us until about 8 and then it took a little longer than 2 hours to pass by. It was well worth the wait though because the lantern parade was something like out of a magical fairy tale. Every single person in the parade had their own brightly colored and illuminated lantern and we saw everyone from people in decorative traditional costumes, monks walking and singing, dancers doing acrobatics as they passed by, and children skipping along while sining korean tunes. The floats on the other hand were MASSIVE paper lantern statues. There were giant lantern animals, flowers, dragons, cartoon characters, buddhas, and many had people within them making the arms, heads, and legs move. It was well after sundown so the colors were all extremely beautiful as they were lit up. I also took the opportunity to light the lantern I had made earlier that day....it was so much fun watching MY LANTERN light up. I felt like I was 7 years old...and was really happy :D
This past weekend was just the beginning of festivities happening for Buddhas Birthday. It however will be the only one that I will be partaking in because next weekend (Buddha's actual birthday weekend) Nicola and I have a 3 day weekend and will be going on a 3 day Namhae Island trip with the organization Adventure Korea. We will be staying with local farmers on the island in their homes and will be able to participate in actually rice farming and take part in their annual farming festival. BUT we will also go kayaking in the sea, snorkeling, cliff jumping, and have 2 nights dedicated to bonfires and drinks on the beach. I'm so looking forward to this mini vacation coming up and will surely update afterwards!
Until next time everyone- I love you all and you are with my in my heart on all my experiences! Peace Out!
Here is a link to my latest FB photo album which includes the lantern festival http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.3938187570161.172010.1144020019&type=1&l=d869d83713
No comments:
Post a Comment