Bulgapsan Sangsahwa Festival, September 18th - 20th.

The Bulgapsan Sangsahwa Festival (불갑산상사화축제) opens in Yeonggwang county today and runs through Sunday, the 20th. It's held in celebration of the Sangsahwa, known also as 꽃무릇, a flower considered a symbol of unrequited love since the flowers and leaves never appear at the same time. It is also a significant flower to Buddhists.

1000 years bloom, 1000 years wither, the leaf never meets the flower, love without cause and effect, karma determines life and death.

So reads a piece of Buddhist scripture quoted by Light Enough to Travel who has an excellent post on this. Bulgapsan is a mountain 516 meters high in Yeonggwang and Hampyeong counties, notable for the festival and for the temple Bulgapsa. Buses run from Yeonggwang to Bulgapsa nine times a day, according to the temple's site, which has a timetable as well.

I'll save you from browsing through the program on the Yeonggwang county site, and cut right to the chase: the b-boys come on stage Sunday at 3.



Slightly more information on this county page, from whence the picture above comes. Speaking of local festivals, the Gwangju Design Biennale opens today as well.