Jinju Floating Lantern Festival

As I mentioned in my last post, this past month has been chock full of festivals. The first one I went to was the Jinju floating lantern festival at the beginning of October. I was supposed to go on a all expenses paid trip by the school board but that unfortunately was canceled last minute. Instead, I ended up going with my friend Denise and her co-teacher on the bus the next day.

Jinju is located just west of Busan. The tradition of the floating lanterns dates back to 1592 and the Japanese invasion of Korea. During a battle between Japanese and Korean soldiers around Jinju Fortress, the Korean army communicated with both flying lanterns into the air and floating them along the river.

On the river were hundreds of colour floating lanterns that can in all shapes and sizes. There were lanterns of everything from people playing sports to animals and buildings. There were walkways under arches with thousands of glowing lanterns and you could even make and float your own down the river.

After we arrived we went to a traditional Korean restaurant for bulgogi (marinated grilled beef) and bibimbap (rice, vegetables and meat mixed with hot pepper paste) that is famous for their food. Post eating and amusing the local children with our Western-ness, we headed down to the river to check out the floating lanterns. Unfortunately the weather caught up with us and decided to downpour for the next few hours. I wish I could have taken more pictures but holding my umbrella and adjusting my camera proved too difficult. Jostling with crazy crowds of people who all seemed to hold their umbrellas level with my head, we walked around and saw the lanterns and watched some traditional Korean fan dancers before heading home.

I'll post about the other festivals really soon. It has been quite a month!