Jinju Lantern Festival
Every year the city of Jinju hosts the ever-so-beautiful Lantern Festival along its river. I had never heard of this occasion, until just before this past weekend….and reading reviews on it from other expats had really inspired me to take the 4-hour bus ride down there and check it out for myself. I’m glad I did!!
I went on this lovely excursion with my friends Molly and Megan. We ended up leaving Seoul on Saturday morning at (would you believe this, 7am). That may not seem early to some of you, but when you’re used to not having to wake up early in the morning, it can be brutal, especially considering that I hadn’t really packed and still had to take the hour long ride to the bus station. It was nice though, still being dark outside, walking around with my bag getting ready to head out into the country once again. I love knowing that I’m on my way somewhere….I get an enormous amount of satisfaction from that feeling alone.
<sidenote> I read this book a few months ago entitled The Art of Travel by Alain De Botton. It was pretty good, but one of my favorite parts was when he wrote about where it is that us “travelers” feel most at home. It is often when we’re in these transition phases, he argues. Subway stations, train stations, on our way to the airport or on buses looking out the window. That just spoke to me a lot when I read it, because that’s when I DO feel most content and comfortable. So it was a good feeling yesterday morning as the sun had not yet risen and I was on my way to a new place.
Well, we made it to the bus terminal of course and were soon on our way southeast to this new city. We lucked out with a nice bus again and thanks to the good company and a brief nap, we had arrived before we knew it! Jinju is by no means a big city, it has a nice river running through the center and there are various temples and things to see. We immediately found a cheap motel room at the Versace Motel (a snazzy/cheesy “love motel” that are all-too-common in this country, it was complete wit a back-lit ceiling mirror and everything, haha).
We quickly dropped off our bags and headed along the river to grab some lunch. It was exciting to see the lanterns everywhere, but we were still really anxious to see them later on at night. There were booths along the water selling any random Korean thing you could think of….although Jinju is also known for its silk products so that was there as well. I could NOT get over the silkworm larvae smell! They sell them in many places around Korea, just on the streets, but I guess this city was more well known for them because they seemed to be everywhere….boiling in these giant pots. It’s not the most pleasant smell by a long shot, haha.
We grabbed some bibimbap at one of the booths and just enjoyed the nice sunny weather. Soon we were in a taxi on our way to the bullfighting show. It’s not a Spanish style bullfighting show, it’s just two giant bulls fighting against each other and getting a little beaten up. Unfortunately the shows had ended the weekend before, so we didn’t get to see the action after all. Instead we made our way back to the river and walked around the fortress. Even though these temples are beautiful, you quickly realize that many of them look exactly alike. But we enjoyed walking around and watching people, as well as having little Korean boys and girls running up to us and yelling, “HELLO!!” at random times.
As the sun set, more and more people started popping up seemingly out of nowhere, and before we knew it this stretch of land along the river was suddenly packed with people! You can’t fight it though, so we just waddled along with everyone else and admired the lanterns, they were all so beautiful….especially with the reflection off the water! They were just everywhere you looked almost, and with such ornate detailing and colors….it felt like Christmas in a way and was really very magical.
As it turns out, there is a story behind this festival of lights. It dates all the way back to the late 1500’s when Japanese forces invaded the country. There was a huge battle in Jinju, and the Korean army floated these giant lanterns down the river to send signals to other troops. Citizens also made lanterns to show their support for the army and their mission. This festival has been held in the city for years, but only at this scale since about 60 years ago. A lot of the lanterns are actually war scenes of Koreans battling with the Japanese army, although there were some silly lanterns as well as patriotic ones. Looking at many of them you got a sense of Korean history and national pride. If you get bored looking at the floating pieces of art (which would be difficult to do), you can try making your own wishing lantern, grab something to eat, listen to some of the live music which included a cool drum show, or shoot of fireworks.
At 8:00 the city gave its own big firework show over the river though, which just added to the ambience even more! As it got colder we walked around a bit more and then made our way to a Korean BBQ 
restaurant for some “samgyeopsal” (thick slices of bacon which you grill and eat in a lettuce wrap with garlic and other fixins….everyone loves samgyeopsal). We walked along the fortress wall, and after meandering around and soaking up as much as we could, we finally retired to our hotel for some goofy Korean TV shows and were soon fast asleep.
This is definitely one festival that I will go to again next year, as it becomes more and more difficult for me to find a reason to leave this country after just one year (next January). I love the cooler weather right now too, and can’t wait for it to get really cold and start snowing! Although I’m enjoying it now for what it is….there seems to be an electricity in the air this time of year, it’s always such a time of change and excitement for me. Next weekend I’ll be taking photos of the leaves changing colors….they’re already starting to actually!
