Seoul Lantern Parade 2012

 An annual event to celebrate the birthday of Buddha. Something not to be missed if you happen to be in Seoul. Well, for us who live right here...it is also something not to be missed. Of course, we could easily sit on the couch and turn on TV since it was also aired live.

But I'm sure it would feel the same like being right in and seeing the parade with our own eyes while at the same time being exposed to the sights and sounds and even the smell (in a good sense, though) of the parade. 

Lots of colorful costumes, dances, music, floats, and people (both Korean and of foreign nationalities) were all crammed into the 5-km long parade. What a night, eh?

 

 
Of course, it would not have been complete without the dragon floats or lantern. See that? it was so long that I got to take the picture twice.
Just find the tail of the dragon right on the picture below^^
 

I could not help but keep on taking picture after picture until my hands got numb. The only thing that kept us glued to stand and look out our heads just to sneak and peek into somebody else's elbows, heads, and shoulders was...the fact that the lights emitted from the floats were just beautiful.

See what I meant? 

Free lanterns for us

The night was still young--so some said.
What could be more fun than just staying out late ..a bit late ..
enjoying the night splattered with glittering lights coming out of the lanterns that kept on passing us by...
 

So we did. We were glued to the extravaganza of the lantern parade in downtown Seoul 

right until it is over.

My daughters were so happy to receive a lantern from some participant who turned out to be doing what he wanted to do. I noticed that some participants were giving away the lanterns they were holding to the bystanders or spectators on the streets. 

This was it, then. We took some pictures with our lanterns on our hands as if we were, too, participating in the street parade.

Lantern Festival & Parade @ downtown Seoul

I think elephant-shaped lanterns had become a trademark for the night. Some of them were there to show off their huge+humongous postures! 'Tis a good thing that they were good to look at.

If I'm not mistaken, these were the Shio lantern. I was about to take the whole pictures of each Shio as one passed me by.....alas...the battery of my phone ran out just in time when these lanterns were passing me by.

And..what's that supposed to be? A clock or somethin'? Not quite sure what that was.

This one, however, I did know. A blossoming lotus-lantern with a baby Buddha inside it, to symbolically represent the Buddha's Birthday. (correct me, should I be wrong about it).

the lantern was carried by some people so as to make it move around easily. 

The one I thought to be a clock or something..turned out to be.....*sigh* 

I still could not figure out what that was...

..but that did not dampen our spirit to keep on looking and watching the spectacle.

a rooster? an eagle? Still could not make this out, either. At least, the dazzling lights on the float made it worth-while to be in the very place like this.

Lantern Parade @ downtown Seoul

Yes, downtown(!)Seoul. Horray, finally we got the first row seat. After one hour, we finally managed to get our own seats in the front row. That made us be able to watch the parade in full circle. Wulan, Melizza, my fellow students and my daughter--Eyra were all so happy to be there.

Seeing the bright look on Freya and her Mom's eyes, one could clearly see that attending such a parade was a like going to a dreamland.

The weather's nice. The show was splendid. What's more: we got the first row.

A lantern that was walking or running too fast...that we could not get a clear shot of it. Blurry, unfocused.

As for this one, the tiger lantern seemed to be alive.

I could not imagine how tiring it must be for them to have walked and at the same time carrying lots of stuffs. But, I guessed they did not even feel the tiredness they might have since it was The Night.

Ahh.....No....another shaky and not that clear..alias blurry picture that I took.

This one was hilarious. Even some taxis did participate in the procession. 

Of course, this time around they were not speeding up. 

At the end of the parade, with the lantern on our hands we took pictures as the token or proof of our being there. 

There were only 3 lanterns just yet.

 As we were walking more downward...we would end up having more lanterns that we could have imagined. 

The lanterns seemed to be alike, but it turned out that they were intricately + differently stylized and painted. 

The Parade was over...so

Empty chairs.....no more crowds and cheers..... amazing.

I was petrified to know that a minute ago, lots --thousands-- of people were poured into this now deserted street of Jongno. Yes, after the lantern parade, these chairs were then...empty. So, why not use the chance to take the picture to capture the moment.

It is not everyday...that we could just slip away into the middle of the street at Jongno--infamous for its never-ending extravaganza of shops and eatery in downtown Seoul. So, look at this now.^^

Then..since the party's over...we needed to go somewhere else to see what other parties that Seoul had to offer during this lantern parade.

we were walking, treading along, strolling along the  ways until we bumped into the famous Cheonggyecheon. Nope, we were not going there. The pic. above shows the lit lanterns hanging over the Cheonggyecheon. Not that clear. (^^

As we were walking, we were apprehended by the loud noise and cheers coming from Jonggak intersection.  So, we could not help but wondering what that was...

It turned out to be very place where all of the lantern festival participants stopped and celebrated the day. The confetti and the lightning, and of course..the sound system did enhance the uproar and excitements that most people had---judged from the looks on their faces. (not visualized here^^)

Eyra and Freya were so captivated by sights and sounds of the extravaganza that they started to dance along the rhythm as they were drawn closer and closer...

And...yes...the party seemed to get started. Two big monitor screen TV projected on both sides of the stage, the moving crane that helped move the camera, the shouting and hand clapping..were all too much to handle, no matter how exciting it was.

So, I looked up at the sky so as to find some consolation...only to find that we were so dwarfed by the immensity of the surrounding party goers and excitement seekers. 

So, we might as well...once again...get ourselves hooked and soaked in the hilarious party and excitement ignited there.

The funny part was that...when Eyra and Freya could not stop collecting the confetti. They were struck- amazed at how wonderful and cheerful the night was....simply 'coz they were like the only children who could earn the falling confetti...

'Look! I've got lots and loads of them. Could we just take them home?'

Oh, no..that would've brought home the whole Jongno, then...^^

Bravo Bravo for the Lantern Parade

Finally, May 19, 2012 was over. 

The day and night that shook the whole Dongdaemun - Jongno street in downtown Seoul. And..why was that? 

That was the day when the annual lantern parade along 8-km in length. People did prepare themselves to get the most out of it. Or better yet, the best seat and spot available to see the whole procession.

We ended our night-journey into the wondrous world of lights and sounds by joining the celebration in Jonggak intersection.

Lightning, dances, confetti, and of course...live music dotted the spectacles during the whole night, well at least until midnight--I supposed. We did manage to see the show that marked the culmination of the procession that night. See the laser there?

We got some lanterns of ourselves. Some people just gave away the lanterns they done using. They mostly gave away the lanterns to foreigners like us who seemed to be overjoyed by the mere spectacle of the procession. So, we were happy to have the lanterns. We bet.

The roads were closed. No cars were allowed, that it allowed us instead...to walk along the road freely while enjoying the music at the background and the brick-a-brack sellers that out of sudden mushrooming all across the area.

These were some of the highlights of what modernity have done to the once-used-to-be traditional facade of lantern parade and displays. Robot lantern? got that right.

While enjoying the long arrays of lanterns in all and many shapes and themes imaginable...we were still trying to take a peep of what was going on back there on the stage. The roaring music could not help us but keep looking back as if some famous artists might show up on stage.

This one did pretty much remind me of a statue famous for its symbol of power or prowess of capitalism as shown in Stock Exchange Markets in some parts of the world. (?) I might be wrong. I did not know for sure what lantern it was.  

This one was surely a reflection of what Buddha has in store for people. Just look and embrace the colorful arrays of depictions displayed on each intricate design of the lanterns!

The same lanterns...but it CHANGED colors once we looked at them from different angle. Or, they were deliberately built in such a way that people might get differing impression as they are looking.

Impressive!