Seoul Lantern Festival

The Seoul Lantern Festival is one of those events that I felt was a "must see" while here in Korea. I managed to be by the Cheonggyecheon Stream on a Thursday night, so the crowds were not too bad, and snapped as many pictures as my phone battery could handle - enjoy the tour!

I started on the East end of the stream, after exiting Jongno 3-ga Station on Line 1, which had the modern artist exhibits of light and lantern.

This next one used x-rays from the artist's body after a car accident:

And - a two-headed duck.

Then came the Cartoon Characters Exhibit:

There was a section underneath a bridge with LED lights:

This was a Christmas tree made of beer glasses and lights that danced to 

Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas is You".

These are the characters of a popular kid's show called "Larvae"...

Then came the National Themed Lanterns:

A wall decoration along the stream.

Lady Liberty made an appearance.

I loved this next section with tons of fish lanterns - it looked like they were jumping upstream.

In another area beneath a bridge, there was a display of mini-lanterns and tables for craft activities.

The next one is a model of this year's special lantern (picture at the end of this post).

A large hanok lantern with special message tiles from attendees.

And the last section was of Seoul City Themed lanterns:

Small hanji lanterns (traditional paper) were available for purchase - I now have peach flower lantern in my collection of souvenirs.

I had actually seen the next portion of this during the daytime on a previous trip:

It was nice to see the difference in the lit lanterns:

Depiction of Munmu - a dance performed by civil officers during the Jongmyo Jeryea ceremony.

The musician lanterns were beautiful and music was playing nearby.

And the final (or first) lantern on the tour.

Some quick facts about the festival each year:

• It is held in November each year.
• They light the lanterns at 1700 and turn them off at 2300.
• The lanterns are displayed on the Cheonggyecheon Stream from Cheonggye Plaza near City Hall (City Hall Station, Exit 4) down almost to Insadong (Jongno 3-ga Station, Exit 15).