Gangnam Style Remix: Buddha's Peaceful Birthday Party

Bongeunsa Temple is a serene and historic Buddhist place of worship, nestled into the modern hustle-bustle of Gangnam in South Korea. Buddha's Birthday is typically filled with festivals, colorful decorations, and a myriad of people writing and lighting prayers for candles and lanterns. Despite the limitations of the ongoing pandemic, COVID-19, worshipers and observers gathered at Bongeunsa to celebrate and pray for good fortune.

An imposing Buddha statue reaches toward the moon on the Bongeunsa Temple complex in Gangnam, South Korea.

On Buddha's Birthday, people leave prayers for good fortune in the form of candles, gifts, and written notes.

Worshipers insert candles into this altar at the foot of the Buddha, and then light them.

A worshiper uses an incense stick to light a prayer candle during Buddha's Birthday at Bongeunsa Temple in Gangnam.

A worshiper poses with hundreds of prayer statues after lighting his prayer candles. When asked what he prayed for, he answered, "I prayed for happiness for myself, and success for my friends who want to be a teacher and an accountant."

These statues are paid for by people who choose to trade money for good fortune. Their names are inscribed into the statues. Yes, even the big one in the forefront!

Bongeunsa Temple came to be in 1498 and is juxtaposed by the modern, thriving Gangnam area that built up around it.

The entrance to Bongeunsa Temple is marked by the vivid colors omnipresent at Buddhist temples, and by an extra number of prayers strung up on lanterns during Buddha's Birthday.

On Buddha's Birthday at Bongeunsa Temple, a woman inserts her prayers into a gift bag, which is then drawn up by the worker in the cherry picker, who ties her wishes to the lanterns above him.

This story was crafted while I took National Geographic's Storytelling for Impact in Your Classroom: Photography online course. Check out their available online classes here: https://www.nationalgeographic.org/education/professional-development/courses/