Seoul Lantern Festival/Parade 2013 (part 1)

7 pm...the sun was about to set...and yet...the flocks of people already blocked our view^^ should've come earlier.

*Wait....where are the lantern?:) 

Hmm...guess..the first parade was the line up of people parading along the Jeongno street. 

Voila...at last we found some empty/half-deserted seats since some people prefer standing..up close to the street.

*So..it made us feel relieved that we could at least sit while enjoying the parade.  

I guess..it was the first float of lantern we encountered.  

Was it Haechi? I don't know it for sure....I could be wrong, though. 

Then..along came the ibu-ibu/ladies clad in hanbok while uplifting the lanterns with the sticks on. 

Some dances were put on the show...right on the spot. 

Led by a monk in the first row of more parades to come..we could finally see the start of the parade... 

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!

BOngeunsa Temple: Lantern festival

What did the temple offer to its visitors during the Lantern festival?

Fish-shaped lanterns spotted above the pond--the real ponds found in front of the temple. As the night sky falls and the lanterns are lit, the brightness that brings life to the 'fish' does invigorate the serenely eerie feeling of just looking at them. Eerie yet relieving to the eyes.

See the reflection of the lanterns on the surface of water? It's that life-life! The difference: of course, it was the fact that the 'fish' were glowing above the water^^ 

I think these kinds of lanterns were the ones that captivated me. 

As we were going deeper into the temple and got our back against the temple, we could see the entrance to the temple. It looked different when I saw it from different perspective.

This is what I meant. The sky-rise buildings at the back indicate that the temple are truly located in the middle of one of Seoul's most sophisticated districts bustling with shops, hotels, and malls. 

 Freya & her Mom
 

I spotted a plane-lantern.
My wife and I were both taking turn to take picture--to prove that we 'were' there.

Lotus Lantern Festival @ Bongeun-sa Temple, Seoul

It is May and the festivity season at the onset (no.....wait...it's at the dawn)  of Summer festivities is yet to begin. But, with so much (avid readers, beware: not many, but I dare to say 'much') things to do, we just could not wait to start digging ourselves into the pit of what Korea or Seoul precisely has to offer. First, I want to highlight the much-talked about festival, i.e. no other than the Buddha's Birthday-related festivals held throughout May across the whole peninsula--I mean, at least in the southern part (which I am positively referring to South Korea^^). 

See the dazzlingly lighted lanterns adorned over the sky? well, this is pretty much what we could see and enjoy until today (as of writing this entry)--May, 28, 2012, at most temples nationwide. We went to this famous temple called Bongeun-sa in Sanseong station, which was just across the street from the famous COEX mall in Gagnam area of Seoul.

Went there with my family and a whole bunch of friends who happened to have the same gits and wits for something like this. Well, festival chasers like me...or festivity goers like me would not have surely missed the once-a-year traditional cultural event like this one. (We did see the Lantern Parade, too--which you may read and see in my other entries). 

It was such a rewarding experience to see and directly feel and breathe underneath the red lanterns adorning the sky that night. How could we possibly forget the simple fact that it was just actually a lotus-like lantern dotted and decorated the hall in front of the temple, but ....yet...we felt like something was there--which was the spirit of celebrating what the Buddhist believe to be one of their sacred days. 

Now, this was -- I think--another shot angle I took while we were facing the rear gate of the temple. See the   sky-rise buildings at the background? this simply shows how the temple itself is intact and closely mingled within the vicinity of modern Seoul urban area. 

Lots of animals and plants-shaped --some were unimaginable--lanterns, most were big in sizes---available for anyone to enjoyably see. 

These ones below were the shots I took when we were walking up the temple. Yes, the temple sat on a not-that-high hills that made it possible for us to see the high-rises surrounding it. A positive advantage to give a preview of where it is situated: a serene sanctuary in the middle of a bustling city like Seoul.