Ajumma's Journal: Lantern festival

Those in South Korea have a few days left to catch the Jinju Namgang Yudeung (Lantern) Festival. It started on Friday, the first of October and will end on Tuesday, October 12th. Head for Namgang River in Chilam-dong, Jinju-si, Gyeongsangnam-do Province to enjoy sights such as these.

Unlike the Loy Krathong Festival when tiny decorated rafts are released onto the river as a kind of prayer to the Goddess of Water, the Jinju Lantern Festival has its roots in turbulent times when the Japanese invaded Korea in 1592. The invasion known as Imjinwaeran tested the resilience and creativity of the besieged Koreans in the fortress who managed to outwit the Japs by communicating with support through lighted floats sent along the river.

Last year many festivals were cancelled on account of the H1N1 flu but thankfully this isn't the case this year.

So if you're not headed down to Busan this weekend for the international film festival ( more on this in next posting), head down south to Jinju to practise your night photography skills, or try your hand at making your own lanterns or just soak in the ambience.