Giant lantern festival opens Saturday

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga, Philippines—Giant lanterns are returning for Christmas and they bring a message to survivors of disasters: Don’t lose hope.

This message comes from the organizers of the Giant Lantern Festival, which opens Saturday at the Robinsons Starmills here.

This year’s festival, which began in 1930 and is locally called “Ligligan Parul,” will feature lanterns fielded by 10 villages. Each village has to display a lantern that is 20 feet wide and as tall as a two-story house, to be eligible for the title of the most beautiful replica of the Star of Bethlehem, which the bible says guided the Three Kings to the Infant Jesus more than 2,000 years ago.

“At the start of the festival, the crowd will be invited to spend a minute of silence to wish the survivors of Supertyphoon ‘Yolanda’ the strength to rebuild their lives and communities,” said  San Fernando Mayor Edwin Santiago.

The lantern show is a unique way of giving hope to fellow Filipinos who survived the wrath of nature, said San fernando tourism officer Ching Pangilinan-Gonzales.

“The lanterns are going to give the impression of dancing as these display various kinds of lighting patterns in sync with music,” she said.

Francisco Estanislao, a salt maker, started the tradition of making giant lanterns in 1908, according to research made by the local tourism office.

Estanislao’s lanterns were made of bamboo and coco cloth, departing from the paper lanterns produced in the era to accompany religious processions such as the “lubenas” (novena) of Christmas dawn Masses.

Many followed Estanislao’s lead. The lantern makers this year include his grandson Ernesto Quiwa, Quiwa’s son Eric, and artisans like Raner Teveraturda, Arnel Flores, Edwin David Jr., Mark Niño Flores, Efren Tiodin, Cesareo Sason, Jude Aldana and Byron Bondoc.

The participating barangays this year are Sta. Lucia, defending champion Del Pilar, Telabastagan, San Nicolas, Calulut, Dolores, San Jose, San Pedro, Del Carmen and San Juan.

Gonzales said the city government and the Giant Lantern Festival executive committee donated 80 lanterns to the parishes in the Archdiocese of Palo, Leyte, in the spirit of spreading the Christmas spirit in the Visayas.

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The city government also continues to work with the Pampanga for Visayas Movement, she said.

The lantern festival was cancelled during the martial rule years of 1978 and 1979. The festival was held in 1991 when Mt. Pinatubo erupted, and it continued to be mounted even when lahar flowed out until 1997.

The lanterns retained their old features but have taken on some modern lighting techniques, making them a global commodity beginning in 1979.

This year, big lanterns were sent to Philippine embassies in Istanbul in Turkey, Geneva in Switzerland, Rome in Italy, New Zealand and the consulate in Xiamen, China. A 16-foot lantern was displayed in the second lantern festival in Honolulu, Hawai.