Buddhist Temple @ Night. Tangkogae, Nowon-Gu.
Buddha's Birthday which traditionally is celebrated on the eighth day of the fourth lunar month, is referred to as 'The Feast of the Lanterns'. Interestingly enough it didn't become a national holiday in Korea until 1975.
Traditionally in the country districts (like Tangkogae), tall lantern posts were erected before the home with pheasant feathers, pine branches and coloured silk cloth at the top. Children made dolls from rice straw and hung them from the poles so that they would dance in the wind. The lanterns traditionally were made in many shapes with buddist symbols painted on them and inscribed with characters for long life, blessing, or peace.
Once again lanterns, and once again found in the vicinity of a Buddhist temple. I thought though that the black of the night and the red of the lanterns made a rather beautiful sight. Buddha's Birthday, May 11th, 1999.
An evening walk to Tangkogae, (which is right up at the very north eastern section of the Seoul Metropolitan boundary) with my friend Troy, heralded this shot.This once should be labelled 'Le Scan Terrible'. Rest assured this picture will be replaced when I locate a better scanner. In procuring this image, I used a 'jimmied' fax machine?