Lotus Lantern Parade

Seoul, South Korea.
May 11th and 12th, 2013
(more info -- http://www.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_6.jsp?cid=1002416 )

Happy Birthday Buddha!

So, there is a huge lantern festival is Seoul every year in celebration of Buddha's birthday. I wasn't for sure how big/or what this festival/parade would entail. But when I got to the parade around 9 (about an hour after it had started), I knew right away - ok.. it was going to be pretty big and crazy. Koreans sure do know how to throw a huge celebration involving (no joke) most likely millions.

There were clusters and massive groups of people in the parade and people all up and down the streets watching it. And this wasn't no little 1 hour parade.. it last 2.5 hours. The lanterns and people just kept coming and coming and coming and coming some more. Since I got there late, I had to fight through some of the participants who were finishing the parade to get to where my friend was. I finally made it to him and was seriously surprised by how many white/foreigners I saw! I thought it would be easy to find my white friend - but it so wasn't! There were even foreigners in the parade. We decided they probably just jumped in or they wanted an easier way way to walk home!

I only watched about 20-30 minutes of the parade, but I felt like I got a pretty good feel for it. I guess once you had seen about 20 minutes, you'd seen it all. The coolest I saw was a big long dragon with probably 20 people caring it.. snaking around and then they would move it up and down and make it dance. Pretty sweet!

After getting dinner at the great Lotteria (basically McDonalds just a little more Korean) the parade finally ended. My friend left and I just wandered - you know, what I do best! I got my tripod out and started taking long exposure shots. The streets were blocked off so I just went where ever I wanted. I am sure I got stares (as I tend to get) but again I didn't care. I did have a couple of maybe middle eastern guys ask me to take their picture. I ended up putting their camera on manual and switching all the settings so I could get a better picture. Tip: Don't ask a photographer to take your picture unless you want a mini photo shoot!

I was photographing and watching a concert that was happening when all of a sudden a bunch of people grabbed hands and started snaking around the streets. It was rather interesting and I wanted to photograph it. So I set up my tripod and camera and did a few long exposures and before I knew it I was completely surrounded. There were maybe 50 to 100 going around and around and coming closer and closer to me in a weird snake like circle motion. It was me and 3 drunk Koreans in the middle. They thought it was the funniest thing on the planet, while I was a bit concerned of how I would get out of this moving vortex of people without getting trampled or my camera broken. I finally picked up my camera after getting bumped into several times and made a move when I saw a break in the ring. I was thankful I made it out of there!

I also observed a little kid, maybe one and a half or two with a fan, sort of in the shape of a small broom, wandering around, squatting (like a little old Korean lady) and 'sweeping' the ground. They started blowing small pieces of paper around at the little concert they were having, and this little boy did not like how messy it was making the ground, apparently. I wanted to photograph him, but he was a bit too busy to capture and I didn't want to be 'one of those people.'

All in all, this was quite the experience. I guess during the festival part you could make lanterns and do other activities. I will have to try to participate in that at some point... possibly next year! I highly recommend going to see this if you get the change - a huge shindig not to miss!