Lotus Lantern Festival

The last weekend in April, there was a big festival in Seoul called the Lotus Lantern Festival, to celebrate Buddha's birth. Insa-dong, which is perhaps our favorite neighborhood in Seoul (and the best place to buy anything traditional), hosted the festival, and the streets were lined with craft booths and food stalls and filled with people, half foreigners and half Koreans. Many of the Koreans were wearing traditional Korean clothing, like this group of women:


Heather, Brenden, and I had signed up to make lotus lanterns (a free activity hosted by the festival in English!) and Will decided to join us, too. Since he hadn't signed up, I gave him my place, and Brenden and I worked on one lantern together. We had thought these would be mini lanterns, but it turns out, they were full-size, and making them was a lot more time-intensive than we thought they would be. Two and a half hours later, Brenden and I were finished, but it took over three hours for everyone in our group to finish. Unfortunately, the petals are a little tight at the top of the lantern, so we haven't tried to put a candle inside, as it would be a serious fire hazard. Our lantern is below:


After making the lanterns, we wandering around the streets, marveling at the lanterns (these are regular lanterns, not lotus lanterns):



and walked to a park nearby which was in full bloom, with a lovely pagoda and lanterns:


Although not pictured, we also walked around Insa-dong's temple, which was full of Koreans (and the odd foreigner or two, inevitably with shoulders that weren't fully covered or shirts riding up in the back, both things NOT to do in a Buddhist temple). *sigh* All in all, though, it was a lovely day and we enjoyed experiencing a different aspect of Korean culture than what we experience day-to-day.

- Carissa

P.S. I should note that since our camera broke, these pictures are all courtesy of Heather. Thanks, Heather! :)