The Lotus Lantern Festival

Earlier in my travels, my folks and I had been to a temple stay at Myogaksa temple in Seoul (which was back in mid February for the first weekend we were in South Korea.) It was a pretty cool experience to see how Buddhism works and what Buddhist Nuns/Monks or 'Sunim' as the Buddhist leader who oversaw our stay called themselves. Anyway, when we were leaving, the temple staff had mentioned a Lotus festival that I should look into (as I would be staying here for a year) and decided to do so when it was held on April 26, 2014.

Originally, the Lotus festival was suppose to be a very symbolic event where Buddhist temples from all over South Korea, Japan, and even Taiwan come and attend dancing, signing, and a lot of ceremonial stuff. However, due to the Sewol sinking prior the event, a lot of festivals, concerts, ceremonies and even field trips have been postponed, or even cancelled due to the tragedy. The Lotus festival was no different, what once was planned to be a festive time to bring in the Spring Season, putting positive energy into the air with singing and dancing, turned into a mourning festival with prayer of protection and peace for those departed.

The starting point for the festival was at Dongguk University, we settled into the open air stadium and sat around for a couple of hours as we heard prayers on the massive TV's set up and the head priests chanting and praying for those who had left us.

As you can see, this isn't just a small celebration; this was a massive gathering. Buddhist followers from all over the Asia's had come to participate, it was an amazing spectacle to see all the people, colors, and groups of many different temples in one place, but all still spoke the same prayers and all came for the same reason; to mourn those who had passed in the tragedy and, in prayer, put their spirits to rest and safe passage to the other world.

 There were a few foreigners with me as well, some from the states, others from the UK, and even some from South Africa, all coming to celebrate the Lotus festival, even with a slightly more seldom tone of sadness. Despite that, we were still ready to go through the Latern festival, and when I arrived, I was met with the priestess who had taken care of myself and my folks when we arrived there, Sunim Yeoeun. She sat me down beside her and even gave me water and Gimbap (Korean Sushi, which is quite good actually). While we waited for the ceremonies, we had to write wishes down on yellow ribbons; I took the liberty of writing two; one for me, one for my family.

Once we had that, I was given a golden robe to wear, as everyone else there from Myogaksa was dressed in traditional garb (i just had a robe). Now, this wasn't exactly what I expected for a Lotus festival to turn into a Lantern festival, I expected lotus flowers to be everywhere, but what actually goes on is a massive parade where we all hold stalks with two lanterns attached to it. Upon those stalks, we tie our wishes that we wrote on those ribbons.

Lanterns anyone?

Wishes for myself and my family

We would begin our long parade march through downtown Seoul all the way from Dongguk University to Jonggak Station, which was a big distance to go (2 hours) but it was well worth it, seeing the sites of downtown, the lights, and of course, all the lanterns, people from all different walks of life and even religions stepping forward with these beautiful lanterns to give peace to the spirits of passing and bring in a warm and happy Spring to follow. 

We started with the sun having already set and the lanterns (many using electronic lights but I don't think it mattered) began to glow quite vibrantly, so many colors and shapes floating about with so many people carrying them. It was definitely something I was excited to be a part in, and that was only the tip of what we were going to see as we walked through the closed streets.

As the night wore on, more and more people began to gather, along the street onlookers watched, prayed, even waved at us as we kept seeing so many colors, lights, and even floats that came our way.

 A few of the buildings we past were brilliant in the lights as the fading sun light began to darken the sky around us. It was surreal, thousands of people walking with lanterns, each dangling one or two wish ribbons hoping for peace, tranquility, safe passing of those departed and many more. As the dusk settled on the parade, brilliant floats joined us; each one a different symbol of Buddhism, each one beuaitufl and bright in their design and spectacle (we got behind a Pagoda one with a Buddha wanting peace, was pretty neat.)

Eventually, we arrive at Jongakk, our final destination, pulling to the side as we rested, putting aside our lanterns and returning our robes from the temple. Even as we sat rested, the parade was still going on, and was said to go at least several more blocks (going until 10:30 from what I was told) and we spent a moment just watching the people walking by, lanterns and all, it was truly magical, and something really special to be part of.