Dharma on parade, Yeoju remix

As noted in earlier parade posts, festivities have been held around Korea to mark the birth of Shakyamuni Buddha. My Lady Friend and I went to Seoul on Sunday to watch the Lotus Lantern parade, and a good time was had by all.

I was sitting here working on the Moon 'n' Mars images below when I heard a lot of commotion around the block. Whistles, car horns, the sound of chanting, and then that singular tok-tok of the wooden instrument that zen monks strike during rituals and liturgies. All of this sounded like it was coming closer...





...and so I ran outside with the camera, and sure enough there was a local lantern parade in progress. One fire-breathing dragon float, two lines of women in white satin hanbol, two traffic cops on foot, a black sedan with an oversized paper lantern and a loudspeaker on top, about a dozen monks and nuns in formation, a military marching band, a platoon of soldiers carrying their own lotus lanterns, some child monks with their mothers (I think), another group of satin-garbed women with lanterns, and then locals with more festive lanterns [6 MB .avi video]... all of them slowly and somewhat seriously making their way down and around the few blocks of downtown Yeoju.