One of my favorite holidays in Korea is the “Day the Buddha Came ” (or Buddha’s Birthday, for short), which is celebrated with the Lotus Lantern Festival.

All of the Buddhist temples throughout the country will be celebrating on Friday May 21st with a lantern-lighting ceremony when the sun goes down.

In Seoul, there will be performances, a street festival and a lantern parade. The parade will be in Jongno on the evening of Sunday, May 16th). The Dharma service and the lantern lighting will be at Jongyesa. You can even learn how to make the paper lotus lanterns and see the beautiful lights floating on the Han River.

It’s like Xmas for the Buddha, except no trees, no presents and no fat man in a red suit.

You can see the full schedule here.

Directions: Take subway line 3 to Anguk station or line 1 to Jong-gak station to get to Insadong and Jongyesa.