South Korea Events and Festivals

5/12/2008 - 5/12/2008Lotus Lantern Festival

Seoul celebrates the birth of Buddha with a festival of paper lanterns. Before the festival, traditional lanterns are exhibited at Bongeun-sa Temple. On Yeondeung-nori, the eve of the festival, there are traditional Buddhist celebrations at the 14th-century Jogyesa Temple in Insadong. The opening ceremony for the parade itself is held at nearby Dongdaemun Stadium and the procession of lanterns then moves along Jongno Street. The festival is notable not only for its large colourful lanterns on the backs of trucks but for the thousands of delicate hand-held lanterns in the shape of lotuses, carried by adults and children in traditional hanbok costumes.