▲ The beautiful lights of Lantern Festival

Have you ever been to a festival, or do you like to participate in various festivals? The Lantern Lighting Festival is a festival that everyone can participate in.

This festival is a celebration of Buddha's birthday. Buddha's birthday is on April 8 in the lunar calendar. Buddha's birthday is the biggest holiday among events. Not only the Lantern Lighting Festival, but various commemorative events are also held on Buddha's birthday. Among the events, the Lantern Lighting Festival is the most beautiful and the most well-known festival for people.

We also called this "Yeon Deung Hoe" in Korean. The intention of this festival is to symbolize lighting up the world to make abundant and fair life. During the event, the streets are being decorated beautifully. Then at night, lots of lanterns shine brightly and show off their unique appearance. Lots of colors of lanterns' collaboration makes a subtle harmony. It is also evaluated as a great cultural heritage. It was designated as a national intangible cultural asset in 2012. Besides, UNESCO is deciding the candidates of Intangible Cultural Heritages. There are pansori and Jeju "hanyeo'. Also, South and North Korea are both applied to list Korean traditional sports "ssireum".

In 2020, many people could not go to and witness this festival because of COVID-19. However, Seoul still held the Lantern Lighting Festival. It is held on October 30th to December 31st. It is being held now, too. This festival was first held in 2009, so it has been celebrated for 11 years. It displays various sculptures. In order to support the revitalization of local commercial districts in Seoul special tourist zones, this is distributed in Seoul special tourist zones of COVID-19.

The Lantern Light Festival is not only beautiful but also meaningful because it celebrates Buddha's birthday. Many people hope for a more beautiful and inherent festival to light up South Korea. I recommend everyone to participate in this festival at once.