Happy Birthday, Buddha!

Wow, it's been a really long time! For those of you who are regularly checking for updates, I'm really sorry! I'll try not to go this long without blogging again!

So, why the title? Why, it's Buddha's birthday, of course! The actual day of celebration is May 2^nd, along with my dad, but the festivities have been going on for a while. Almost 50% of Koreans are Buddhist, so it's a national holiday here (yet another holiday that falls on the weekend, so no day off work). The birthday is traditionally celebrated for the entire month of April by hanging lanterns in the streets. Then there is a major celebration, called the Lotus Lantern Festival, which I'll explain more below.

A few weeks ago, I finally had the opportunity to walk the Cheonggyecheon Stream with some friends. This is a stream that I should have explained a long time ago when I went to the museum for it, but I've been waiting on a piece of pottery, which I may never receive, before I did that blog, so I will probably post about that at a later date. Anyway, the stream was decorated with large lanterns in all sorts of designs. There were lanterns lining the middle of the stream, lanterns hovering above the walkways, and even a laser light show. Just before descending into the stream area, a photographer asked to take our picture with one of the lanterns. We were all walking over but he was pointing at me and another girl. I looked to the friend who could speak Korean, and she said that he only wanted the tall foreigners! Poor Tamra!!! But without my short friend, I would not have this lovely memory!

Here's a couple of the mouth of the stream, and some of the lanterns.

Tamra with the dragon, the laser light show (quite impressive, I must say!), and one of Tamra and I in the middle of the river, just after Tamra almost fell in...twice!

The rest of the group petered out after about fifteen minutes and decided to get get drinks. I, for one, had come to walk the stream, and by George, I was going to walk the stream! Thankfully, I had Tamra to keep me company. It was a lovely walk. After a while, we decided to go back up to street level just to see where we were. We happened upon a large open market of eateries. There were meats and foods encased in tubings that I have never seen and hope to never see again. The smell was quite overwhelming. Here's just “taste” of the carnage.

This past weekend was the Lotus Lantern Festival. Both the flower and the lanterns represent Buddhism. On the weekend before his birthday, many different areas have festivals and parades that are full of both of these symbols. I wish I knew more about this particular religion so I could enlighten you (oh, that's a terrible joke), but I really don't know much. I had mixed feelings about even being there, but it was an experience that I didn't want to miss.

The festival that I went to on Sunday with Tamra was held in Insadong and was the official Seoul festival. The streets were lined with booths and Buddhists. You could make a lantern, string up some prayer beads, weave a straw mat, or make a traditional painting. You can even get your shakra rubbed...whatever that means. And, of course, there was the ever-present festival stage with the traditional Korean performers. These drummers were by far the best I've seen yet.

We soon found ourselves outside the entrance to Jogyesa Temple. I didn't expect to see what I saw. The ceilings were lined with hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of lanterns. It was quite the sight. We followed the sound of music and found an extremely jovial crowd dancing and singing the traditional Korean song and dance. The hats reminded me of a certain Mexican cookie. Anyone know what I'm talking about?

For that last shot, I had gone up on a stage where I saw other people standing and figured it was a great place for a picture. What I saw when I turned around took my breath away. Behind me was the temple itself, and inside the temple were three enormous Buddha statues. It's difficult to put into words all the emotions that rushed through me at one time. At first, I was overtaken by the enormity of it all. Then my heart was saddened as I saw the people filing in and out of the building, kneeling, praying, and making sacrifices to a god that will never hear a word they utter. Even as I had Tamra take my picture there for the sake of posterity, I was unsure whether to smile, given what I was feeling in that situation. But then I remembered that I serve a God who is living and active in Korea and in my life. He will show me how to reach these people...so I smiled.

The final event of the day was the Lotus Lantern Parade. It had to be held at night because, well, you can't really see a lantern lit up during the day! We had scored what we thought was an amazing spot on the route. That is, until cell-phone girl and rent-a-cop took their places in the most inconvenient places possible. Now don't get me wrong, they didn't rain on our parade (ooh, sorry, another pun), it actually gave us quite a great amount of entertainment, but unfortunately, none of my shots turned out well because the police officer's vest is reflective and ruined the lighting. But the officer himself was such a cutie! He was like a little seven-year-old in a Halloween costume because he had such a baby-face and was smiling all the time! Cell-phone girl spent the evening taking pictures and video on her cheap cell phone. This wouldn't have been so bad if she had not also spent the evening maneuvering herself from behind us to beside us to in front of us. But I digress. The parade was still quite beautiful in parts. A little heart-breaking in others. I leave you with these last few pictures.