UP strikes balance between social relevance, tradition in 2014 Lantern Parade

By: Aries Joseph Hegina - 10 years ago

MANILA, Philippines—Festive floats inspired by Philippine music and culture headlined the annual Lantern Parade of the University of the Philippines (UP) on Monday night.

The theme of this year’s lantern parade is “Pasundayag Diliman: Pag-uugat at Pagyayabong.” “Pasundayag” means “celebration” in Cebuano and true enough, the almost five-hour spectacle celebrated the creativity and ingenuity of UP students as they pay homage to Philippine folk culture.

The Yuletide event drew about 30,000 people, mostly composed of students from various UP campuses such as Diliman, Manila, and Los Baños. Aside from members of the UP community, families and visitors went in droves to witness the parade.

While some of the lanterns exuded the usual Yuletide cheer, other colleges and organizations chose to promote social relevance.

Lantern Parade Hall of Famer and crowd favorite College of Fine Arts presented a medley of lanterns symbolizing creatures and scenes depicted in Philippine folk songs such as a giant crab from the song “Tong , Tong, Tong, Pakitong, kitong,” a huge “Pipit” bird from “Ang Pipit,” and a Filipina with butterfly wings for “Paru-parong Bukid.”

College of Mass Communication’s lantern highlighted the search for justice for victims of typhoon “Yolanda” accented with 50 candleholders made by victims of the super typhoon. Meanwhile, the float of youth group Anakbayan asked the university administration to save a food center in the campus whose employees would likely be displaced.

The annual lantern parade is also a contest between colleges and academic units within the university. Institute of Islamic Studies royal “torogan”, which was made completely of recycled water bottles, won the grand prize. College of Engineering’s crowd pleaser lantern, which depicts a growing sunflower and derived from the university’s early tradition of “Cadena de Amor”, bagged second place. Lastly, College of Social Welfare and Community Development “Binhi”-inspired lantern won third place.

The 2014 Lantern Parade, which marked the culmination of the first semester in the university due to the shift in its academic calendar, was capped by a five-minute fireworks display.