The Jongmyo Daeje Ceremony, Seoul
Officials carrying the written prayers used in the earlier stages of the ritual, to be burned, the last procedure remaining in Jongmyo Jerye, the ritual for sending off the spirits, called Mangryorye. It was believed that the ancestral spirits, who had been to Jongmyo, would return to Heaven with the smokes raised when the white ramie (the cloth covering the king's spirit tablet) and incense were burned in this final procedure. Now that the ancestral spirits were entertained and worshipped in utmost sincerity, they would take care of the country and people to be happy and prosperous, they believed.
Photo by Ludo Kuipers, Sun May 04, 2014