Investigating a festive cacophony that we awoke to from an afternoon nap, we were treated to the largest parade of our lives. It was the lantern festival, in celebration of the buddha’s birthday.
An annual event, 300,000 people took part this year, we later learned. It took two and a half hours for the parade to pass. The procession was a miles long river of dramatic lantern floats. The buddha, dragons spitting actual fire, a Korean turtle ship “firing” cannons, traditional Korean drummers. International contingents were well represented: Thailand, Myanmar, Nepal, Cambodia, all in the house.
The streets were lined with tens of thousands, cheering on the procession. All ages, all nationalities. Just a massive throng of celebratory humanity.
Pictures or video can’t do it justice. It was a vibe of epic proportions that was hard to fathom.
The festival continued the next day (and beyond), with streets closed to traffic and dozens of stalls taking their place. It was essentially a flea market for buddhist activities, with a few kid-friendly offerings sprinkled throughout. Lessons in prayer, making celebratory lanterns, painting classical images of buddha, demonstrations of cultural elements of Buddhism from Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Thailand, Cambodia and beyond.
Another small parade made it’s way down the cultural and shopping mecca of Insadong street, celebrating Korean Buddhist culture.
Home on the Roam 
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