As in years past, the 연등회 (Yeon Deung Hoe, or Lotus Lantern Festival) is an excellent, if overly touristy, chance to learn more about one of the world's oldest religions. A folk festival that has origins in the Goryeo period continued as the Lantern Celebration in the Joseon Dynasty (광등노리), and continues as a social festival to this day. The religion and reverence, however, seems to get lost amidst the hubbub of making paper lotus flowers, candles, and a hundred other things.

The event started in the afternoon, with dozens of tents offering arts, crafts, and information.



Say, perhaps, you want to make a paper lotus lantern...



...or a screen ink print...



...or make a wish to tie onto any of the strings, or dozens of other arts and crafts projects. I never knew Buddha was so artistically inclined.



No idea why a lion was posing with a 'Good Hands Africa' at a Buddha's Birthday festival. What the Kimchi?



A bit more traditional - a large-scale jump rope where people just 'jumped in'.



One highlight of the afternoon - an excellent drumming performance. Not sure I could identify the different types of drums, but the sound was tight and attracted a large crowd.

Shortly after the drumming came a Korean costume / mask performance. Since the performance was narrated in Korean, I have little idea about the meaning of the different characters:





The half-hour show had a wide variety of characters - cutting it down to three pictures for the sake of keeping your attention was hard :)



Spreading sand - one grain at a time. Even for these masters of patience it takes house to create a mandala.



An art project for the grown-ups with a steady hand - paint a Buddha, just follow the lines.



We finally ended up at the temple - running into FeetMan Seoul (AKA the Metropolitican) while there. The scene was chaotic - hundreds of people running around trying to get lanterns and everything set up for the parade coming up soon.

While the festival attracted a large foreigner crowd, the whole thing seems a bit... fluffy. Much like Christmas in the US, the reason for the season has been lost - it's a family outing, not a reverential time. Even those trying to be reverential at the temple had a tough time navigating the colorful lanterns (still packaged five to a plastic bag) and the photographers going for the money shot.

Stay tuned for tomorrow's follow-up - the well-known Lotus Lantern Parade. After taking a couple hundred pictures it takes some time to pick out the best ones!

© Chris Backe - 2010

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