Busan -- Jeongwol Daeboreum Fire Festival |Derek Teacher

Daeboreum, (대보름), which means Great Full Moon, celebrates the first full moon of the lunar calendar. Originally, farmers burned away the dry grass between their rice fields in order to rid them of insects before planting new crops. Nowadays, large piles of bamboo and straw are burned for good health and fortune in the coming year.

There were bonfires to be found everywhere in Korea, but we, (Caroline, Kristin, Josh and myself), opted for Gwangalli Beach in Busan. The festivities were not set to kick off until the evening, so we decided to walk around and enjoy the scenery.

just building a bridge

who put that hill there?

this is probably 1/3 of the total length

Josh and I really had our hearts set on getting to the top floor of one of these shiny buildings. His plan, which I fully supported, was to just show up and knock on doors until someone answered. We'd then tell them that we were English teachers and we wanted to photograph their condo for a lesson about the different rooms in a house. We never made it to the buildings though because they were much further away than they originally appeared to be. We started out walking in their general direction but then gave up when we realized that swimming there was probably the quickest option.

I'm not sure who this guy is but I'd like to shake his hand

Back down at the beach, the final preparations were in place, and the pile was set to become a torch. I should mention that before the fire is lit, people offer something to the fire. Some offerings consisted of fruits. Others were written messages that were tied to a rope.

Some offerings appeared to be empty bottles of water, soju, and makgeolli, (or maybe just trash).

Caroline and Kristin tying one on

The beach became a fireball, as ash and god knows what else rained down all over us. Some people began to join hands and dance around the fire while others rushed in to hurl their final offerings into the inferno. Police officers formed a perimeter and politely blew whistles if anyone approached the blaze, (they didn't stop anyone, they just blew on their whistles to let the perpetrator know that it was being passively frowned upon). We hung around for a while, (until the scent shifted from bonfire to garbage), and then made our way back to Daegu.

A Chance Encounter

I almost forgot about our encounter with an extremely rare, (thought to be extinct and certainly not indigenous to this part of the world), Blue Toed Wild Josh.