Lotus Lantern Festival

Last week, I went to the best festival that I've been to in Korea. The festival was the Lotus Lantern Festival, which is an annual festival held a week before Buddha's birthday. There was sort of a pre-festival celebration the night before, with dances, music, floats, and lanterns. But the next day the real thing started, with an opening ceremony, lantern making, a 3-hour long lantern parade involving thousands of people, music, drum circles, congo lines, old people dancing, us dancing with the people in their costumes, and everyone holding hands with complete strangers with pink confetti falling on us at the end. It was awesome.

P.S. I might need to explain that one picture- while in the western world, that simple symbol makes us think of Nazis, it (with the arms going the reverse way) is actually the Buddhist symbol here. The Koreans innocently put on signs, flags, and of course, festival floats.