lighting of the lanterns

Late Friday afternoon, Ken, Brenda, Norman and I headed to Jinju. Ken and I have been to Jinju several times before, whether it was to tour the castle Chokseongnu, or just to go to McDonald's and then look through the antique shops. This time, we were there for the Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival. The Namgang River runs through the city of Jinju, which is a little over an hour away from us. The festival got its origin from a Japanese invasion in 1592 - 1593. The Koreans, with only 3800 troops, were able to kill 20,000 Japanese during this invasion. The Korean general floated lanterns and torches on the river to send military signals to troops and support systems outside of the castle. It was also used as a means for soldiers in the castle to let their families know they were safe.

We got there around 5:30 and headed to McDonald's for a quick hamburger before walking to the castle side of the river. The image of the lanterns floating on the river was magnificent. There lanterns of all sorts and sizes floating down the river. We walked across the river on a floating makeshift bridge. It was a bit wobbly at times, but you were still able to see and take pictures
of some of the lanterns more closely.

The lanterns depicted a wide variety of objects, shapes and colors.








This apparently was of a rooster, for the year of the rooster.













More traditional Korean figures...
















Some were geared for the younger set - not all of the lanterns were floating, some were on the grounds around the river. This lantern periodically shot fire out of his gun.








This dragon was huge and also had some smoke and fire effects.


You know, I just can't decide which pictures to add.....so I think I will just give you a little peek of some of my favorites.











The bridge ended on the opposite side with a building sized replica of a temple.
There were booths lining the river with food, souvenirs and lantern making activities. Although I would have loved to make a lantern, I knew that it would take away from my time to see everything. So we all elected to purchase a floating wish lantern. For 3,000 won, you wrote down a wish that was then attached to a ready made lantern. You took it to a certain area, where the candle inside it was lit and lowered into the river.


There also were scores of lanterns lined up along the waterway. These were hanging wish lanterns - people had their wish and name written on these lanterns. These were used to hope for happiness in the home, longevity for parents, students' success in schooling, etc. I have no clue how many there were, but it was definitely alot!


Other lanterns that were made at the festival by individuals were hung overhead in several areas.
It was obvious that some were made by children, while others showed a bit more skill.
They were all beautiful though.

Although we didn't see any of the extra events that night, there were dance, plays and other cultural performances during the festival - which was October 1st through 12th. We did get to see a fireworks display
at the end of our evening before heading back to the island. This was a "waterfall" of fireworks coming off one the bridges that crosses the river.