Yeundeung shaped like Buddha
Let me introduce sparkling Korea to you!
I'm going to write this subject in series named "Dukko" a simple form of "Do u know Korea?".
First subject is Yeundeung festival.
Yeundeung means "the lotus lantern" made by dyed paper.
The paper name is "hanji" different from ordinary papers.
Hanji made by special progress for producing a traditional paper.
There are many difficult and delicate processes for making hanji,
untrained people can't make it.
The basic shape of yeundeung
On April or May, Buddha´s birthday is coming.
The big holidays in Korea like Buddha's birthday or Seolnal (new year's day)
or
Chuseok (the harvest day like Thanksgiving in the west),
Koreans reckon the date according to the lunar calendar.
So the date of Buddha's birthday changes every year and it was May 2 this year.
(The unchanged date of Buddha's birthday is April 8 according to the lunar calendar.)
The Buddha's birthday is coming, Almost buddhist temples start to make yeundeung
and many buddhists participate in.
They make an enormous number of yeundeung, various shapes and sizes.
The lanterns look like a tiger, frog, lion, stone tower,
man in the myth, just lotus, and others.
Sometimes people make celebrities or cartoon characters looking lanterns.
The closest sunday prior to the Buddha's birthday,
"Yeundeung festivals" is held nationalwide.
The biggest one is Jongro yeundeung festival held on jongro street in Seoul.
People bring all lotus lanterns they made to jongro, and hold a parade.
The spectacle is beyond description! Fantastic and amazing ♡
The lanterns shine like stars in the shadows of night.
People who carry the lanterns walk energetic with smile,
spectators clap and take photos constantly.
2009 Jongro yeundeung festival was held on 26 April. All pictures were took then.
After the parade all of yeundeung stand on the street that
people can watch them or take pictures freely.
(These photographs were took for that time.)
The last order of the festival is a celebration performance
with famous musicians and entertainers.
At the same time, small pieces of white paper are blown off all direction
with delightful music.
The white spots brown off in the air are "kkotbi". It looks like showery petals.
The pieces are called "kkotbi" mean "flower raindrop".
If you expose yourself to kkotbi or snatch some pieces,
certain kind of lucky events occur to you sooner or later.
Though a superstitious belief, it's funny and hopeful thing,
I expose myself to kkot-bi each time I go to the festival.
So far, I introduced Korean traditional event named "Yeundeung festival".
I'm sorry that I can't express this fantastic festival well
cuz my english is awful ;- P with a sigh.
If this short writing helps somebody who is eager to know about Korea,
my heart will be full. : )
Next writing - dukko series no2 - is about "Cheonggye creek" or "Kyongbok palace".
Expect the update!
