Buddha’s Birthday in Seoul

Celebrating holidays foreign to your native country is one of the most fascinating experiences of being abroad. Every spring Korea celebrates the birthday of Prince Siddartha Gautama, better known as Buddha. Last year, my first in a Buddhist country, I made sure to check out some of the celebrations around Seoul. Because the exact date of the holiday is determined by the lunar calendar, it is different every year. In 2012 Buddha’s Birthday will be celebrated on May 28 in South Korea. The beautiful lotus lanterns are already going up around the country and it’s not too early to start thinking about what to do to celebrate Buddha’s birthday in Seoul.

The first event I went to last year was the Lantern Parade which is held the Saturday before the actual holiday. The parade features enormous lanterns carried by thousands of monks, Buddhists, a volunteers from all over Asia. The brightly lit and colorful lanterns come in all shapes and sizes. My favorite last year was the enormous dragon that snaked its way up and down and across the street on the backs of some agile young men.

The parade starts at 7 at Dongadaemun Gate and continues down the street toward Jogyesa Temple. It lasts about 2.5 hours but I’d suggest getting there early. I arrived at about 7:30 last year and the streets and sidewalks were already packed with a diverse, international crowd and it made it difficult to get a good view of all the lanterns. The reason a lot of these photos aren’t great? Because I had jockey my way around people and shoot over the heads of some of the shorter people. Luckily, I’m tall. For you shorter people. Good luck.

The following day I checked out the Buddhist Street Fair in front of Jogyesa Temple near Anguk Station. Hundreds of booths dedicated to different aspects of Buddhism and to the different countries where Buddhism is a major religion lined both sides of the street. There were a lot of great, and mostly free, activities. I made my own lotus flower lantern and created a print of Buddhist teachings in traditional Chinese characters. Other stalls gave people the chance to make their own meditation beads and dress up in traditional Korean clothes.

Jogyesa Temple is open to the public during this time and is adorned with brightly colored lanterns. This was my first time in a Buddhist temple and the sight of the enormous gold Buddha statues was awe inspiring. It definitely was a far cry from the many Catholic churches and cathedrals I’d visited in Europe.

Further down the street there were stages hosting performances of traditional Korean music and dance and tents set up with food from Buddhist countries around the world. I sat down and ended my day with a nice bowl of bibimbap, a Korean temple staple.

If you’re going to be in Seoul for Buddha’s birthday weekend this year, make sure you check out some of the celebrations for glimpse into modern Buddhist culture.

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