Pampanga’s giant lanterns go green
—TONETTE OREJAS
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — Craftsmen in this Pampanga capital have started taking a step toward environmental sustainability in time for the 115th Ligligan Parul (Giant Lantern Festival) by designing lanterns that produce less heat to help ease climate change.
Each of the 10 competing handmade giant masterpieces —now 20 meters in diameter— is expected to use only 30 percent of the minimum 150,000 watts available in each of the three showdowns at 6 p.m. today, according to Ma. Lourdes Carmella Jade Pangilinan, city tourism officer.
Since wattage is considered in the light designs, she said the organizers lifted the cap on the number of bulbs. Several lanterns last year were fitted with as many as 12,000 bulbs.
LED (light-emitting diode) bulbs and flexilights are also allowed this time, Pangilinan said.
“The number of bulbs actually limits the creative expression of lantern makers. In wattage, they can come up with new gimmicks,” she said.
Article continues after this advertisementPangilinan added: “The lanterns do not consume all the 150,000 watts because the bulbs do not all light up at the same time.”
Article continues after this advertisementLighting solutions firm Firefly donated 1,300 LED bulbs per village. The San Fernando Electric Light and Power Co. is providing electricity to the lanterns and their venue in Robinsons Starmills Pampanga.
Rotor’s magic
Electricity passes through a local invention called rotor, where the designs are embedded in a barrel-shaped aluminum sheet fitted with an improvised steering wheel. Hair pins or bicycle rods that touch the exposed parts of the barrel make the bulbs light up. Parts that are covered by strips of masking remain unlit.
In this second staging of the in-person festival after the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, 10 villages are fielding entries. These are Barangays Bulaon, Calulut, Del Pilar, Dolores, San Nicolas, San Jose, San Juan, Sta. Lucia, Sto. Niño and Telabastagan.
In a festival uninterrupted by martial law, Mt. Pinatubo eruption and lahar flows, the pandemic also failed to stop the unique event. It went on, but without the competition in 2020 and 2021.
Seven villages joined to continue with the tradition that replicated the Biblical account about the Star of Bethlehem during the birth of the Child Jesus over 2,000 years ago. Among the city’s 35 villages, Barangays Telabastagan, San Juan, Bulaon, Sta. Lucia, Calulut, Sto. Niño and San Nicolas continued the tradition.
Originally funded by the contributions of residents, the festival has enjoyed the local government’s subsidy since the 1980s. This year, organizers announced giving each village a subsidy of P400,000, the biggest amount so far, mostly coming from the administration of Mayor Vilma Caluag.
