A Very Buddha Birthday!

This weekend a month of celebrating  culminates in Korea’s all around favorite guy turning a year older. It’s Buddha’s birthday and the streets are lined with colorful lanterns to mark the special day. Last weekend a group of us went up to Seoul to see how the holiday is celebrated in Korea, as well as kick off our last 3 months in Korea ( I can hardly believe it!)

This is truly the best season to have a birthday and Koreans and foreigners alike were out in this weekend’s sunshine to honor an Asian Icon. Buddhists believe that Buddha died over 2500 years ago, yet walking along the river this evening he seemed very much alive to the Korean people, with the image of his peaceful grin and jolly belly, illuminated by thousands of lanterns lining the walkway. My dear friend at: TIK arranged a weekend full of events including traditional lotus lantern making, a trip to the secret garden inside Changdeokgung palace, and an all night dance party in Seoul’s Hangik University neighborhood. If you are near Insa-Dong and have a few hours to spare I would highly recommend spending them in Changdeokgung’s palace, gardens and green house. There is a beautiful pond with Koi the size of kimchi pots and a greenhouse with ikebana style flower arrangements and exotic plants on display. The secret garden charges a 2,000 Won admission and closes at 5:30PM (make sure you are out in time or you may be scaling the rock wall after dark). Like many Korean monuments, the palace was demolished on numerous occasions by the Japanese after its 1405 construction and what remains is an intimate look into what was once Korea’s center of power.

On Sunday we made our way through Insadong’s busy market street, and to the lantern making festival where not only did we get to participate in the traditional lotus lantern making, but we were in the company of practicing monks. One young man was at the festival with his parents who were visiting him for the first time since he had left his home in Saint Louis to study Buddhism and train to become a monk in Korea. He was gracious enough to share with us a bit about his experience living in a Korean temple, and practicing Buddhism as a foreigner saying that he did between 100-200 bows a day!

Although the festival was filled with monks, all with shaven heads, the same matching robes and peaceful demeanor, there was so much individuality in the lotus lanterns. Each with a different style and color pattern. We managed to carry our delicate lanterns the 5 hours back to Ulsan that evening and they hang now in our bedroom, their significance to us much different than to the monks who hang them in remembrance of a man whose birthday they celebrate this weekend in May. Happy Birthday to all you spring babes!!!