The 2011 Lotus Lantern Festival celebrating Buddha’s Birthday is being held in Seoul this weekend.

Buddha's actual birthday falls on Tuesday this year.

The festival, which marks the two-thousand-255th anniversary of Buddha’s birth, will feature a Buddhist ceremony at a sports arena at Dongguk University Saturday night.

The ceremony will be followed by a lantern procession, which is said to be the highlight of the entire festival. Some 100-thousand people will march with lotus lanterns from Dongdaemun in eastern Seoul to the Jogye Temple in central Seoul. The post-parade celebration will be held in Jonggak. Buddhist followers will take part in festive traditional activities.

On Sunday, foreigners can learn how to make lotus lanterns on the street in front of the Jogye Temple, and take part in activities related to Buddhist culture.

Traffic will be restricted in the sections of the city where the lotus lantern march will take place from Saturday afternoon to Saturday night.