Way-gook-in' it up in Korea!: Jinju Lantern Festival

International Yudeung Festival of Namgang Jinju
During the Japanese invasion of Korea in 1592, the General Gim, Si-min and 3,800 government troops flew pungdeungs (pungdeung: a lamp that was flown high with using the wind) and floated lamplights down the river with torches to signal the support forces, in the Jinjuseong Battle. Also, they used these lamps for a military purpose: to keep the Japanese invaders from crossing the river and to communicate with the soldiers' families who stayed outside the castle.

Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival (Yudeung: floating lamps down the river) was begun to commemorate the patriotic spirit of 70,000 militia corps and government troops who died for their country in the second Jinjuseong Battle(year of Gyesa, 1593) and to hand down the tradition of Yudeung. This festival had been held in Jinju for a long time, then in 1949, a present type of Yudeung festival was established and has been held annually since. In 2002, this festival was designated as the "specialized local festival" by the Ministry of Culture & Tourism to be run more fruitfully.

Today was a nice and relaxing day. I "slept in" until 7:20, oh teacher's schedules. I laid in bed for awhile reading and then did my yoga before having breakfast with the host family. I spent some time on the computer researching some different things, then went for an hour long walk outside into the rice fields and hills near my apartment. I wish I had taken my camera -- I'll have to go back soon and take pictures. It is beautiful!

Speaking of rice -- I find their way of agriculture here so different from ours. First off, since land is so expensive, people only own small plots of land, not hundreds of acres! The rice fields here range in size from the size of a large garden to about 2/3 of a football field. I haven't seen a rice field much bigger than this. Now, granted, a farmer might own a few of these plots (I really have no way of knowing who owns what), but I would guess most farmers only own 1-5. The plots are all together in expansive rice fields, and separated by raised walkways of dirt. The farmers lay the rice outside to dry, usually using public sidewalks or parking lots. They use these black mesh mats to lay the rice on. I told my co-teacher how I find this strange because in America it would be seen as inefficient and unsanitary (think of all the rodents that could come mess around in it...). I told her since there is so much grain produced in America, this would never work. We use silos and drying fans. She said that rice not dried by the sun tastes worse. I asked why? Because I don't see how drying rice in the sun would taste different than drying rice by a fan. Maybe it's true, but I'm guessing its just how they've always done it and so they think it is "better." Anyway, I've included a picture of farmers drying rice near the stream near my school.

After lunch, I left with the host family at 3pm for Jinju, just over an hour's drive away from Suncheon. Jinju has a lantern festival every year. Surprisingly, my host family has never gone, even though they are so close and this festival is very large! I'm really glad we went (I wouldv'e gone by myself if they hadn't offered to go with me). We arrived around 4:30 and saw several lanterns in the park (not yet lit up), ate some snacks (fish cakes, corn dogs, and corn on the cob -- I only had the fish cakes, because the corn here is disgusting -- I explained to my host family that I am spoiled by Iowa's great corn, and I can't stand to eat it here in Korea), and then they made me get dressed in Korean traditional clothes (hanbok). This was beautiful and I'm glad I got to do it, but it was also super embarrasing. EVERYONE was staring at "the blonde chick wearing the hanbok" and pointing, and taking pictures of me. One girl came right up to me w/ her cellphone and snapped a picture. I turned right to her and asked her "why?" and all she said was "kamsahamnida (thank you)" and giggled and turned away. If you're going to take a picture w/o asking permission, at least be discreet about it! A photographer for the event also was snapping pics of me. My older host bro, Jun-ho, also dressed up. So, we were king and princess for awhile! :-D My host dad snapped about a billion pics of us, so once he sends those to me, I'll upload some of them.

Added later: Some of the lanterns in the park were written on with wishes. You could also write a wish on a piece of paper and put it inside. Anyway, my host father told me one of the wishes written on the outside was written by a kindergartener -- he was wishing for good test scores for his first grade year next year. How sad! Can you imagine a kindergarten student already worrying about their test scores in anticipation of needing good grades for college? I just can't believe the pressure students are under here in Korea. Something needs to change, and soon, otherwise these students will buckle under the pressure.

We crossed the river to the other side where many vendors were set up. We saw lanterns made by the high school students in Jinju as well as many lanterns in the river. About this time it was getting dark, so they turned on all the lights! It was really pretty! We walked around for a bit, and then finally crossed another bridge back across the river. We climbed up to where some sort of fortress is located to watch the fireworks from there. It was a great show, even though it lasted only 10 minutes. I think I like this way better than the small-town American way, which is drag the show out, but don't have frequent fireworks. Here it was like they were all going off at once and right after each other, so it was pretty exciting! So exciting, in fact, that every Korean person around me would scream or yell "WOW!" for every firework, which as I said, was a lot in 10 minutes! It was pretty funny.

Then we walked back through the large masses of people -- really, there were tons of people here for the show -- caught the shuttle bus back to our car, and zoomed home. I guess where my host dad had parked us we completely avoided the traffic jam, thank God!!! We got home around 11 and I was pooped, so I just plopped down in bed and did some reading and soon zonked out! ^^ Enjoy the pics below. If you like these, be sure to check out the link I emailed -- there are plenty more there!