Happy Bday Buddha! – Korea’s Lotus Lantern Festival pt.1/2

Buddhism is one of the oldest religions in the world, tracing its history back to the birth of the Buddha, which means “the enlightened one,” 2556 years ago. In Korea, it is a national holiday, which thankfully landed on a Friday this year. It was pretty cool to have a three day weekend, but the festivities aren’t just about having a day off (even if it is a nice perk).

Lotus Lantern Festival 1

The Lotus Lantern Festival is one of my favorites in Korea, highlighted by its fantastic  Read more

Jongmyo Jaerye Festival in Seoul, South Korea pt.2/2

A visual arts festival is always improved with, well you know, some visuals! Here are two videos I took during the Jongmyo Jaerye Festival this last weekend. By the way, subscribe to the youtube channel and you can see these videos as soon as they are uploaded (ahead of time).

Video #1: The Ritualistic Dance during Jongmyo Jaerye

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Jongmyo Jaerye Festival in Seoul, South Korea pt.1/2
Jongmyo Jaerye
A panoramic picture of the Jongmyo Jaerye festival.

Background

What is Jongmyo Jaerye? Despite being one of the most important cultural festivals in Korea, most visitors have never heard of it. Who can blame them, I have been in Korea for three years and it took active researching to find out when and where it was (and I knew what I was looking for).

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This is the second part of the Jindo Miracle Sea Road Festival, and I know what you’re thinking. What will you possibly post on this part 2 post that wasn’t already covered in the first Jindo post. Well, given that I did take some video on this trip, I thought this would be the perfect time start the youtube channel I talked about in the first website update. It is my first try at video, so I apologize in advance for the quality. While my camera is supposed to shoot in true HD, the format is sometimes difficult to work with.

Video #1: A parade of people carry banners across the sea road.


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Panoramic picture of people walking across the water from Jindo to Modo
Panoramic picture of people walking across the water.

Korea seems to have a festival for everything. There is a butterfly festival, a lantern festival, about seven cherry blossom festivals, and that is just in April and May. Much like visiting too many temples in a short time, you can also get festival-ed out! The Jindo “Miracle Sea Road Festival” however, is truly unique. Every year around late April [This year, on April 25-28], when the tide is at its lowest, a magical road appears that connects Jindo Island with Modo Island. Compare this map provided  by google, with this one the day of the festival.

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