“Compassion to the World”: 1,500 Lanterns Illuminate Geumnam-ro

On May 9, just fifteen days before Buddha’s Birthday (Buddhist Era 2570), the ‘Bitgoeul Lantern Festival’ was grandly held around the 5·18 Democracy Square in Dong-gu, Gwangju. Despite the sweltering early summer weather, citizens and Buddhist devotees gathered under the lanterns that lit up the city center, wishing for the…