Seoul Lantern Festival Lights Up Tonight

The Seoul Lantern Festival ( not be confused with the Lotus Lantern Festival) starts this evening with a lighting ceremony at Cheonggye Plaza at Cheonggyecheon. The lantern display stretches all the way to Gwansugyo (Bridge) and they will be lit up from 5 pm to 11 pm each evening until the 20th of November.

The theme for this annual festival is  "Stories of Seoul's Past through Lanterns" so expect to see lots of traditional motifs.

Checklist of lanterns to snap  to post on Flickr:

Cheongsachorong,  the red-blue lantern, used for wedding ceremonies,

was also used as the logo for  the G20 summit last year.

1. an 18-meter lantern tunnel made up of over 3,000 cheongsachorong (traditional Korean lanterns with a red-and-blue silk shade)

2. a  model lantern of Namdaemun Gate

3.  Haechi, Seoul's mascot


Lanterns from twenty other countries as well as those by participants in a local competition will also be showcased. If all that viewing whets your appetite, try making your own lanterns at Gwanggyo Gallery. Handicraft activities start on November 5th.

Charges apply, of course. To make your own Wish Lantern, you'd have to cough up 5,000 won and for the privilege of floating your own lantern on the Cheonggyecheon, you'd need to pay 2,000 won. Don't see how the latter can be enforced given the length of the stream and the expected crowds. I suppose any unauthorised lantern will be fished out unceremoniously.

For more info, click here.

sources:
http://www.visitseoul.net/en/article/article.do?_method=view&art_id=48789&lang=en&m=0003001006003&p=06&gclid=CObQovi5nKwCFYka6wodMnSD2A
http://world.kbs.co.kr/english/news/news_photo.htm?No=17410#
http://www.exploringkorea.com/seoul-lantern-festival-2011/
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/11/04/2011110400936.html
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2010/07/09/2010070900974.html
http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/FU/FU_EN_15.jsp?nCategoryID=1&SearchType=&keyword=&gotoPage=1&cid=1424125&cCode=&nCategoryID=&searchType=&searchKeyword=