Hello everyone! The Christmas season has come and gone in the U.S. and we already talked about our New Year’s festivities back in 2022. Since I don’t like to be repetitive, for this blog I am drawing inspiration from a very special Korean boy near and dear to my heart by talking to you about Korean winter events!
For those who don’t know, Christmas is celebrated in Korea but is more romantic and akin to Valentine’s Day, so you won’t find familiar American traditions and décor there. New Years’ celebrations are also different than ours because they recognize the Gregorian calendar New Year on January 1st along with the Lunisolar calendar New Year (February 10th this year).
So how do Koreans celebrate the winter season? They decided the best way to do that was with a spectacular light show!
Starting in 2009, Korea began the Seoul Lantern Festival where downtown is covered in lights during wintertime and visitors can encounter various types of lanterns. Each year the festival takes on a theme; past themes include The History of Seoul, Wonderful World Heritage of Seoul, Garden of Light, and other historical and conceptual based shows.
The first year the festival took place the show began in November and started at Cheonggye Plaza and led to Supyo Bridge, which was originally built in 1441 and spanned the Chunggwe stream. The goal of this bridge was to measure water levels and had been moved and replaced a few times before returning to its original location. At this time the festival was solely comprised of lanterns and did not use modern light sources.
The second year over two million people attended the event including foreign tourists, and the event was only set for 10 days; However, due to the large attendance it ran longer. It wasn’t until 2014 when the use of LED light was added to the festival, thus creating a unique experience combining traditional paper lanterns with the modern wonders of light strips.
This year, the festival is planned to run from December 15, 2023, through January 21, 2024, and has expanded to include Gwanghwamun Square and Seoul Square and boasts experimental programming. The lanterns themselves are a work of art taking on different shapes and sizes, including a wall of prayer wheels, a display of musicians, a giant white rabbit, a grand display of dragons, owls, and tigers, amongst many other glorious displays.
If you have considered travelling to Korea, consider going during the winter to check out the Seoul Lantern Festival! Cultural enrichment has never hurt anyone, and sculptural lanterns sound too good to miss!
