I’m notoriously bad with remembering birthdays. It’s not even that I’ve forgotten your birthday, it’s more that I am completely unaware of the present date and how it might relate to your special day.
There was that time that I messaged one of my best friends to tell her I was drunk on a bus at 10am with a man in a mullet wig, and it wasn’t until the next day that I realized it had been her birthday. Being completely unaware of Forgetting about my previous text, I messaged her with a profuse apology that I had been completely without service all day but “HAPPY BIRTHDAYYYY!” She called me out on it, of course (I blame the mullet wig, somehow!), and I’ve considered tattooing her birthdate to my forehead so it never happens again.
Last week, I forgot to wish another good friend a happy birthday, but in my own defense the woman doesn’t have facebook (what kind of human is she?!) so, really, it’s her own darn fault! I have come to rely all too heavily on that little sidebar to notify me of someone’s upcoming birthday and without it I am a complete failure in the birthday message department.
There is one birthday, however, that this country was not going to let me forget: Buddha’s Birthday! Because a quarter of the Korean population is Buddhist, the week of the big guy’s birthday is one of the largest celebrations in Korea and we even received a three day weekend because of it. For weeks surrounding the special day colorful lanterns are strung throughout the country and a variety of festivals take place.
A group of friends and I spent the weekend in Seoul to celebrate our friend’s birthday and to enjoy the Lotus Lantern Festival. On Saturday evening, more than 50,000 people took to the streets for the largest parade I’ve ever experienced. For over two hours, people of all ages marched down the road dressed in traditional Korean garb and carrying a colorful array of lanterns. Dazzling floats of beautiful bright lights drifted by and dancers twirled through the streets to the sounds of marching drummers.
The parade culminated in the “Daedong Celebration” where thousands of people gathered in front of a stage for a live performance of singing and dancing. We all danced in the streets together and hundreds of people put their hands on each other’s shoulders and “choo choo trained” for longer than I ever thought I could choo choo train. It was the cheesiest thing I’ve ever done, and I loved it. At the end, they showered the crowd with pink “lotus petals” (AKA, confetti) while the people continued to laugh and dance harmoniously. It was an incredible celebration of happiness and peace!
Then on the way out I fell through the hole between the subway train and the ground and sprained my ankle and kind of almost died. But that’s a story for another day… Here are the photos of the parade. Thanks for being born, Buddha!
