A few weeks ago, while we were walking around in Seoul, we poked our heads into Jogyesa temple and were surprised to see this. Now, we had heard that Buddha's birthday was coming up, and that it was a pretty big deal in these parts, but we were astounded by what we saw. The big day was still a month away, and they were hanging thousands of lanterns, forming a dazzling blanket of color over the entire grounds. Once again, Korea took us by surprise - we decided that we needed to put Buddha's birthday on our calendar.
Over-the-top party decorations at Jogyesa. (The suffix "-sa" in Korean means temple)
We soon realized that every Buddhist temple in Korea, from the biggest to the smallest, was making similar preparations. Colorful lanterns, each with a prayer written on a piece of paper having from the bottom, are strung up to form a roof of color outside the temple, and the neighboring streets are lined with lanterns.
A little temple in my neighborhood - it might not have the budget of Jogyesa, but it is just as faithful.
There are always some plain white lanterns as well. I'm not sure the reason for this.
A bigger temple in my neighborhood.
All the streets near the temples are strung with colorful lanterns.
So this has been going on for several weeks now, and the big day is fast approaching. All those lanterns are starting to get lit, and the lantern parade is scheduled for tomorrow night. Looks like I'll have more photos to share with you soon!
