Lotus Lantern Festival

The joys of Korean information seem to be that you can't really rely on any one source to give you the correct details. Also this information may be subject to change (with or without notice). Seriously one of the info pamphlets for the festival actually said this....Anyway this made it somewhat difficult to find out when and where everything was actually happening. We had heard that we could make our own lanterns but nobody seemed to be sure exactly when we could do this. Fortunately we ended up finding the correct time(despite the official website being written in 2004) and turned up on Sunday the 29th April to make our lanterns. The festival is a part of the wider celebrations for Buddha's birthday and the lotus flower is a symbol used to represent good luck and fortune.

The actual lantern making took close to 2 hours and it was peppered by countless photo opportunities as the Korean media and various locals took photos of the funny looking foreigners struggling to make lanterns. Julia actually got interviewed by KBS(Korean Broadcasting Service). Our lanterns turned out pretty well as shown below and it was worth the temporarily stained pink and purple fingers that apparently only I was left with....Must of been because I was the most diligent? My lantern took the longest anyway and I had to get Kezia to help me finish off the leaves at the bottom. Unfortunately despite our hard work none of us won a prize. We did all get mini lantern making kits so we will have to have a lantern making night some time soon I think.

Julia actually got interviewed by KBS(Korean Broadcasting Service). Our lanterns turned out pretty well as shown below and it was worth the temporarily stained pink and purple fingers that apparently only I was left with....Must of been because I was the most diligent? My lantern took the longest anyway and I had to get Kezia to help me finish off the leaves at the bottom. Unfortunately despite our hard work none of us won a prize. We did all get mini lantern making kits so we will have to have a lantern making night some time soon I think.

In the evening was the parade and for this we spent a lot of time sitting down. Sounds weird I know to be sitting for a parade but somehow we managed to choose the only position where people were actually expected to sit down to watch while everyone stood on either side of us.

If we stood up we were politely and then with more frustration told to "Sit down please" by the policeman in front of us. Eventually we moved to where we could stand up but realised we would have been better off where we were... Anyway we saw some amazing lanterns and national costumes sported by the many many people walking in the parade.

Eventually we decided we had seem enough lanterns to last us for a while and made our way back on the subway before it got too busy. Our lanterns were rather cumbersome on the train but we were only a few of many who were travelling home with their lanterns as well. It must have been an bizarre sight for any people who were unaware of the festival. All in all my lantern didn't sustain too many knocks and now sits above the tv waiting anxiously to be lit up like it was intended. Next year I think I won't go so easy on everybody and will really let my natural talent for lantern making come to the fore and take home the prize as well as the lantern.