Jinju Lantern Festival

Our favorite festival we’ve been to was the Lantern Festival in Seoul. Ryan’s mom had just flown in to Korea and we all headed downtown to take in the culture and glowing lights. We were a bit disappointed this year to be in transition into our new jobs and missing out on this year’s festival.

We recently heard many of our friends talking about the Jinju Lantern Festival. And, with the newest addition to our family, our car Su Ji, we knew we had to plan another roadtrip. So we packed our car and set out for the hour and a half drive up to Jinju.

The Seoul Lantern Festival is celebrated every spring in honor of Buddha’s birth. There are an array of events and activities during the festival including lantern making at the Jogyesa temple, a lantern exhibit on the Cheonggyecheon Stream, and the famous lantern parade that spans the entire length of Jongno Street! The lighting of the lanterns symbolizes bringing light, wisdom, and compassion to the world and is an important ritual in Buddhism.

Seoul Lantern Festival 2013

The Jinju Lantern Festival, on the other hand, is a tradition that originates from the lighting of lanterns during the Japanese invasion along the Jinjuseong Fortress. It was a military strategy used in hopes of preventing the Japanese troops from wading across the river. Many of the lanterns depict battle scenes from the war. Giant lanterns are floated in the river and many along the fortress walls.

We have been spending a lot of time with these two recently. John and Mara were in our orientation back in April and the past 8 weekends have been going on many adventures together. They’re okay.

This festival was seemingly never ending. We wandered through tunnels of lights and festival booths for hours and still didn’t see it all. Eventually it was time to head back to our city of Yeosu as a typhoon was headed our way. We waddled back to our car, full of vendor foods and satisfaction.

-Stephanie

Advertisement