Seoul Lantern Festival: Costumes and Drunkards

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These are photos from the all-day Lantern Festival that took up blocks in an already busy area of Seoul. There were crowds of people from various countries and the second I saw the diversity, I was in love. There's nothing that makes me happier than being surrounded by cultural hodgepodge.


Beautiful women dressed in traditional clothes urged us to experience a 1-hr temple stay (my friend and I refused because we had both done more authentic temple-stays and wanted to see what else was going on). Lanterns decorated the Jogyesa Temple and the streets.


As daylight faded, the lanterns glowed, illuminating all corners of the streets. Though we missed it, I recommend seeing the floating lanterns they place in Cheong Geh Cheon River. One of my fellow Incheon teachers posted photos of the floating lanterns and they were beautiful.


We lucked out and found front row seats on the concrete to watch the parade. Awestruck doesn't suffice when I say our jaws dropped with every subsequent group of lanterns and people.


I can't help but wonder how long it takes them to make one of those ginormous lanterns! One dragon and peacock breathed fire while others mechanically moved their limbs. I saw more traditional costumes here than my whole life of visiting Korea, including a hilarious man with lipstick in a female hambok (traditional dress).


My friends drew many "Oh, hello!" and "HI!" shoutouts from younger kids walking in the parade and made us roll-over laughing (because my friends look like foreigners where most confuse me as a local Asian). The never ending welcome that foreigners receive (for the most part) isn't annoying in South Korea.


There were a few drunken men who started fussing with the security men, but it was nothing bad. We laughed at the young security man's embarrassment as one drunken old man verbally abused him and continued crossing over the tape. Age is no joke around here, it gets right-of-way with everything. Lucky for the young security guy, a more experienced hyung "older brother" with more guts and less patience arrived to save the day.


This was one of my favorite moments in Korea so far. I really need to get a spare battery because mine died before the end of the parade. It is really an all-day event.


Here's the website I used to get information for the parade Lantern Festival.


For those needing travel assistance in Korea, there's a 24-hr hotline I discovered where you dial "city code"+1330 (Seoul: 02-1330) that has helped me many times over in terms of transportation for subways, buses, taxis, and other valuable help for tourists and expats. Here's a website for other area codes.

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Photos

Dimensions and Details
There is so much intricate detail on the huge lantern behind the buddha.

Dragon Lantern
This one blew fire.

Inside Jogyesa Temple
Monks and volunteers continued creating lanterns for the parade.

Man in Woman's Hambok
fiesty red lipstick ^^

Ahjummas Marching
Ahjummas "older women" carry lanterns in the shape of traditional Korean shoes (usually made of rubber).

Looooong Dragon
There was a man walking on top of this dragon.

Bongeunsa Temple
This is near the Samsung Subway exit. This was before the festival (you can see the lanterns behind the gigantic buddha). The temple was virtually empty and enjoyably quiet.