Buddha's Birthday

I mentioned in the last post that we were in Seoul over the weekend. The occasion was the annual Buddha's Birthday Lotus Lantern Parade. Last year we wanted to go but Bruce was away on business. This year, though, we managed to make it. Unfortunately, I was the only family member to attend the parade, as Vivian got a little bit sick in the hotel room the first night so she and Bruce stayed home the second night while I went to the parade.

I am so glad we went! It was an incredible experience, one that really drove home to me that we are living in a culture very, very different from our own yet it is somehow friendly and welcoming. I hope it will become an annual event for our family. I wish I knew more about the traditions behind the different floats and lanterns but its hard to get information here without a public library (and Wikipedia fell short on this topic!). So I'm just going to post a bunch of photos without trying for a description. If you're interested, there are more photos on the Flickr link on the right side bar.