A million people went to Jinju this weekend.

Here are a few pictures from the Jinju Lantern Festival this past weekend. They're not from me, because I'm a terrible photographer, especially at night, but are culled from news stories.


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Walking through a tunnel of lanterns made by local students.


A dragon that breathed real fire and smoke.


The lantern in the foreground has Jinju's new slogan "참진주," rendered as "Charm Jinju" in English.



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It costs 1,000 won to
cross the pontoon bridge to the other side of the river. If you're cheap like me, or you don't want to deal with the massive crowds, you can cross the river by the two larger car bridges a short distance away.

That's just a quick sampling found after a few minutes of searching. A Naver search will turn up a lot more.

Last year there were about 3,000,000 visitors during the festival's two weeks. They estimate that about 1,000,000 went during this past three-day weekend. On Friday night the crowds were absolutely oppressive, and moving anywhere was a hassle. They were probably there in anticipation for the fireworks, and after the show ended the crowded thinned out immensely, and it was actually possible to move around comfortably and have a good look around.



I hate to be Debbie Downer, but I want to mention that I'm turned off by violence, so one thing in the back of my mind the whole time was that the festival was in dark commemoration of attacks on Jinju during the Imjin Wars. A little awkward for me and for my Japanese guests, especially during the CGI feature in the National Museum, which was a little too enthusiastic on the depiction of the slaughter.

Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival has its origin from the Jinjuseong battles in the worst suffering period of Imjinwaeran(Japanese Invasion). In October, 1592, when General Kim Si-min with his 3,800 men killed 20,000 Japanese troops, heightening national pride, the lanterns were used not only as military signals but also communicative methods between soldiers and their families.
In the 2nd attack in June, 1593, 70,000 citizens, officials and soldiers were killed, and after it, they began to float the lanterns on the river during Gaecheon Art Festival as a service for repose of the deceased and peace and prosperity of homes and nation.
Reflecting the long history of Jinju, Jinju Namgang Yudeung Festival has settled as the symbol of royalty and wishing.

The, um, "festival" at Haenam and Jindo next week is also on a similar theme. Societies all over the world coolly and calmly allow half their population to be slaughtered for some reason or other, and coldly rattle off figures as if the deceased weren't human beings with friends, families, hopes, and ambitions. Murder is murder, whether in war or not, so celebrating the deaths of Korean heroes and cheering the slaughter of Japanese doesn't make for an altogether pleasant setting. In this context, then, I suppose bullfighting isn't so out of the ordinary. Jinju is regionally-famous for bullfighting---between two bulls, not with a matador---and there's a "Bullfighting Cyber Theme Park" in town, too. Combatants were led, foaming at the mouth, through the main entrance of Jinju fortress during a parade on the morning of the 4th.


Bull fighting in Jinju this month.

Anyway, the festival continues through next weekend, so if you're in the neighborhood, definitely make the trip. It was an absolutely gorgeous two days.