Buddha's Birthday : Jogyesa

Jogyesa (조게사) is the largest Buddhist temple in Seoul, so come Buddha's Birthday and the Lotus Lantern Festival it's a hive of colour and activity. I didn't manage to get to the temple at night, to capture all the lanterns lit up, but I did manage to be at the temple just when everyone was prepping for the big lantern parade. (If it sounds like this was planned, it wasn't at all - I just blindly, happily stumbled upon it.) 

So as well as all that gorgeous colour from the lanterns, there was also a wonderful atmosphere of muted excitement and barely organised chaos - a bit like being back stage just before the curtain goes up. 

At the entrance were queues of Korean ladies in beautiful hanboks waiting to be given their lanterns (and then later, wrestling with them as they seemed determined not to stay on their hooks). Then, just next to the temple, people with hangul lanterns in all different colours and a man with a megaphone trying to get them into some kind of order. And further on, under the white lanterns, groups of school kids in traditional dress and a monk or three getting them in a row. And a man on a cherry picker, who slowly moved up and down, placing wishes on the lanterns hanging overhead. And amongst it all people saying their blessings, going about their rituals.