Buddha's Birthday

Buddha's birthday is a national holiday in Korea.  All Koreans have at least one day off, and there are celebrations all over the country.  At each of the temples they hang colored lanterns that are lit up at night.  There is a famous temple right in the middle of the city that is known for their beautiful lanterns.   I wanted to see the lanterns in the day light and all lit up at night, so one afternoon Russ, Lucy and I set out on this adventure.

At the entrance of the temple there were these huge figures that were made of different cutout metal layers all set on top of each other.

The lanterns in the front of the temple are hung in a specific pattern.  This picture is what it looks like if you are looking down from the top.

Here we are inside of the temple, looking up.

 There were thousands of lanterns.

The temple was also decorated with spring flowers.

We left the temple and went for dinner and waited it to get dark outside before we went back.

Can you see Lucy in this picture?  Look at the little girl in the pink shorts between Russ and I.  She was so excited to run out of the restaurant and across the street to get her picture taken.

After it was dark we went back, and while it was impressive during the day, it was beautiful at night.

They had lined the branches of trees with the lanterns.

Another fun adventure in Seoul.