Yeon Deung Hoe Lotus Lantern Festival...

My friend Katie and her husband Alex are going to be leaving Korea soon. Katie has been here for 2 years and Alex for three, so they have served their time and are going home. They are going to Fort Bragg next. Katie and I have become close over the past three months and we would go everywhere together! In addition, we are all about the same age, newly married, and no kids so they were a perfect couple for us to hang out with! It is going to very hard to see her leave on 31 May!! Well Katie and I had been talking about going to do something, she mentioned the Lantern Festival, and I just happened to have a brochure about the weekend event. It was going to be taking place near Insa-dong, which is in the heart of downtown Seoul. Therefore, we decided it would be something fun to do on Saturday night.

This past Saturday afternoon, we drove to Yongsan and met up with Katie, Alex, and a couple of the LT's that work with Alex. We ate at the little Mexican Restaurant in the Dragon Hill Lodge, which I might add it was so wonderful to eat some halfway decent chips and salsa and of course, I ordered the usual, a taco salad, which was very filling. After dinner, we walked out and got a cab to take us to Insa-dong. A whole street was blocked off for the event. On Saturday, it was the Eve of the Festival's Celebration so we were able to see the large lanterns on display and they had a stage performance. Next year I want to see the big parade, which this year took, place on Sunday. We had a great time and it was a neat experience.

Here is some information for you about the festival. It was taken from the brochure:
"Yon Deoung Hoe is a traditional Korean folk festival that began in the Goryeo Period (918 - 1392) as the Lotus Lantern Assembly (Yeondeunghoe) and continued in the Joseon Dynasty (1392 - 1910) as the Lantern Celebration (Kwandeung-nori). This tradition of making and hanging lanterns for the welfare of the community and to fulfill personal wishes continues to this day, brighter and bigger than ever before. The lanterns are symbolic offering of the lights of wisdom and compassion that dispels the dark and suffering of the world. During festival time, 100,000 brightly colored lanterns adorn the streets and paths throughout South Korea. In the parade, we can see over 100,000 lanterns, handcrafted with devotion and more than 100 giant lantern floats shaped like dragons, tigers, elephants, and the life, to create and ocean of dazzling lantern light. The street festival is not to be missed with delightful traditional cultural experiences, performances, and activities for families and couples, and foreigners and Koreans alike."