In Magalang, ‘lubenas’ lives, thanks to young craftsmen

COMMUNITY CELEBRATION Handheld lanterns, called “lubenas,” are readied for the nine-day Christmas Masses in Magalang, Pampanga. The tradition, revived by Mayor Ma. Lourdes Lacson in
2016 but halted by the pandemic, is being mounted through the efforts of 27 villages and six parishes in Magalang. —TONETTE OREJAS

MAGALANG, PAMPANGA—All 27 villages in this mountain town have come out in full force for the “lubenas,” a dying tradition of carrying handheld lanterns for religious processions during the nine-day Christmas Masses starting Dec. 16.

The “Ing Banal a Batuin Qng Magalang Lubenas ning Pasku” (A procession of Christmas lanterns in Magalang for the Blessed Star) on Tuesday night was the second time it was mounted since 2022 when the COVID-19 pandemic began easing, Mayor Ma. Lourdes Lacson said in an interview.

“This joint undertaking of our six parishes [in the Archdiocese of San Fernando], 27 barangay councils and the municipal government showed that restoring and guarding heritage needs the unity of many sectors,” Lacson told the audience during a cultural show at the town plaza.

Lubenas is a folk derivative of novena (nine days of prayers). The revival won Magalang a cultural heritage award from the Office of the President in 2018. Handheld and usually the size of a wash basin, the lanterns displayed during lubenas of Magalang contrast with the giant lanterns of San Fernando, which are 18 meters in diameter and are carried on open truck beds.

Rite

In the procession, a big cross-shaped “parul” (lantern) symbolizing Jesus Christ led 12 “batuin” (star)-shaped lanterns arranged in two rows for the 12 Apostles. As they are typified as fishers of believers, a fish-shaped lantern “danced” behind them.

These lanterns, lit by candles or electricity from diesel or gas-run generators, illuminated the image of the village’s patron saint that is carried on shoulders (“andas”) or on flower-decked “carrozas” (carriages).

Behind the image, devotees sang the “goso” (a hymn for the saint), recited the Holy Rosary, sang “Dios Te Salve, Maria” after each mystery of the Rosary, and sang the “Virgin Divino” for a home with a sick family member. Musicians played the guitar; in some, a karaoke machine sufficed.

The lantern bearers danced to a slow cadence in sync with devotees who played the part of angels, saints or the Blessed Mary.

On Christmas Eve, the lubenas gather in the parishes and toward the mother parish of San Bartolome in Barangay San Pedro, the third site of the town driven out by floods and starvation in 1863. Some old residents referred to this gathering at the church grounds as Maytinis.

Efforts by Lacson and Fr. Ronnie David Cao to revive the lubenas—which began in 2016, was halted by the pandemic in 2020, and resumed in 2022—have been sustained by younger generations of lantern makers whose training and craft had been subsidized by the local government, according to Ryan Miranda, the town’s tourism officer.

Behind Barangay San Jose, the back-to-back champion in 2022 and this year, are three young lantern makers: Syrus Feliciano, Renzo Santos, and Clarence Ramos, all 27 years old. In between their daily jobs, the three are active in pastoral and village councils.

Trained in 2018, they learned the craft from Angeles City-based artisan Rene Calma. Lubenas is still practiced on smaller scales in Angeles and Mabalacat cities that border Magalang.

Because cutting the pattern takes care and time, the trio starts making the lanterns after the “daun” (feast of the dead) in November.

“The old makers are gone. The young ones like us can sustain it for as long as we can,” said Santos.

In this year’s lubenas, San Jose’s lanterns stood out because part of the intricate design was a paper image of St. Joseph, explained Feliciano, the lead designer.

Landing second, third, fourth, and fifth places were the lubenas of San Ildefonso, Sta. Lucia, San Francisco, and San Pedro Dos, respectively. San Jose received P100,000 in cash and P1 million worth of barangay projects.

“Sobra la kasanting (They were extremely beautiful),” said Lacson of the feedback by six judges led by Dr. Eric Zerrudo, director of the University of Santo Tomas (UST) graduate school, and lawyer Gezzez Giezi Granado, dean of the UST College of Tourism and Hospitality Management and director of the International Center of Excellence in Tourism and Hospitality.

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