The "Misa de Gallo" and the Giant Lantern Festival 2013

The main reason for our San Fernandino trip two Saturdays ago was to attend the famous Giant Lantern Festival which gave San Fernando City the bragging right to declare itself as the Christmas Capital of the Philippines. Although famous and having been around since the early 1900s, it is, in La Familia Viajera's honest opinion, not as resonant as compared to other Philippine festivities such as Lucbán's Pahiyás or Calivo's Ati-Atihan. I have been hearing of this event for the past couple of years, but rather faintly. Simply put, the name Giant Lantern Festival certainly rings a bell but we are really not familiar with how this festivity goes.

Our overused camera's throwing a hissy fit, so pardon the poor photo quality.

Last December 14's Giant Lantern Festival was held at Robinsons Starmills. That night, the mall was heavily crowded. An no, that is not our car.

To begin with, the farol/parol —a symbol of the Star of Bethlehem that led the Three Kings to the newborn Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior— actually stemmed from the nine-day early dawn Mass called the Misa de Gallo or Simbáng Gabí. The farol was originally made of bamboo strips covered with papel de japón (Japanese paper) illuminated by a candle or carburo/calburo (carbide) inside it. During Spanish times, the only lights used during Simbáng Gabí are candles. The faithful would bring their faroles with candles inside them to church because during Mass, only candles are used for lighting and nothing else.

According to what info I was able to gather about the Giant Lantern Festival, it is held every second Saturday of December and it showcases what is said to be the most decorative Filipino Christmas lanterns or farol/parol this side of the archipelago. Locally and affectionately known as the Parul Sampernandu, these five-pointed paper star lanterns —circularly shaped nowadays— were uniquely crafted by an artisan named Francisco Estanislao beginning in 1928. They are not just highly decorative and brightly lighted, but through the years they have evolved into something so huge that several people could literally fit into each lantern!

It is said that the Giant Lantern Festival officially began sometime in the 1920s when then President Manuel Quezon vacationed at nearby Aráyat. His mere presence there help turned the then obscure area into a tourist site; the rest of the country finally began to take notice of the place. So in gratitude for the prosperity that his presence brought to Aráyat, Pampanga's provincial government which was already in San Fernando decided to hold a festival for the president's honor. Local officials held a Christmas lantern contest, and President Quezon himself participated by personally contributing the prize for the winner. His wife, then First Lady Aurora Aragón, presented the award. And the rest, as they say, is history!

This year, I learned somewhere from the web that the Giant Lantern Festival was to be held in San Fernando's Robinsons Starmills. I'm not sure since when this cultural festival started to be celebrated inside a mall, and I have to admit that it was somewhat disappointing since a mall is a utilitarian establishment and not a cultural one. Whatever cultural facets the Giant Lantern Festival still has might be swept under the rug by having it celebrated in a place where there is absolutely no culture at all. Oh well.

The event was to begin at exactly 6:00 PM. We arrived in San Fernando a little past noon so we first toured the old población and the capitol grounds. When dusk fell, we proceeded to the mall. As I have anticipated, the event did not start on time. Oh well.

From the event organizers inside the mall, Yeyette was able to secure our media passes. It was supposed to be Yeyette's first time to blog about a famous event. But things didn't turn out the way we intended it to be. Being first timers to the festival, we realized there and then that the event that night was actually a competition (really, we honestly didn't know). Only two media passes were provided. Understandably because our four children are just that: children. No media IDs for them are necessary.

All set to blog about the event!

But as we were to enter the event site, the young volunteers who were stationed at the entrance refused to let our kids in! We were stunned. We begged, we pleaded, but it was no use. There seemed to have been a misunderstanding...

First of all, being first timers, I didn't realize that the organizers were going to cordon off the spectators and will let in only media personnel (bloggers, newspaper writers, etc.) and VIPs (whoever they may be). Secondly, the organizers "politely scolded" us for failing to sign the online media accreditation form where we could have listed the names of all those who were coming with us. Yes, I do remember having encountered such a form (click here if you're interested to see it; and my, it's colorful), but nowhere did I see there that I had to indicate the names of my blog's "staff". Besides, most of my blog's members are kids, my golly.

I also have to admit that I never gave that form much attention because we simply wanted to see the giant lanterns. We never really intended to officially report about it. For sure, we were to blog about the event, but to "officially cover" it was farthest from my mind especially because our kids. So pardon us for being ignorant first timers — we really didn't have the slightest idea that the competition was to be witnessed by a select few.

For humanitarian reasons, my wife pleaded the organizers to let us enter with our kids especially since nobody else will tend to them. For crying out loud, Krystal wouldn't be able to look after her three brothers with all that huge Capampañgan-speaking crowd. Yeyette went so far as to mention that we traveled all the way from San Pedro to Robinsons Starmills just to witness the giant lanterns, but emotional appeals didn't work (later on, we realized that San Fernando has a Barrio San Pedro; the organizers must have thought that we were from just nearby, no wonder their lack of sympathy.

The 10 giant lanterns, still unlit, from afar. This year, only 10 barrios out of the city's 35 were able to participate in what could probably be the Philippines' most electrifying event — and we mean it literally!

In the end, we just made a compromise. They made our passes transferable, i.e., they allowed only two persons at a time using our two IDs. So fair enough. We decided that Krystal and I go in first; we agreed to have Yeyette come in later with one of the boys until all of us in La Familia Viajera would have seen the giant lanterns up close.

Inside, me and Krystal were aghast to find several vacant chairs. We stayed inside the event for about half an hour, but the chairs were never filled up.

After witnessing four "dancing lanterns", Krystal and I went out the event site. It was Mommy Yeyette's turn with perhaps one of the boys. But we found Yeyette in one corner sulking, trying to control her temper. When she saw me and Krystal approaching, she attempted one last time with the organizers to have our kids see the event up close. She even questioned them as to why they allowed a certain person carrying a kid inside the event a few minutes earlier. But they didn't answer her. They just stubbornly shook their heads, indicating that we really couldn't bring our kids inside. Angrily, Yeyette turned her back. We all left the event. A bad experience there.

Anyway, below are the results:

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO — After settling for second place last year and losing its chance for a grand slam in 2007 and 2008, Barangay Telabastagan came back Saturday with a blast to emerge as 2013 champion of the world-renowned “Ligligan Parul” or Giant Lantern Festival (GLF). 

Chief lantern maker Arnel Flores, head electrician Alberto Dungca, and rotor maker Arnold Flores seemed to have perfected their “half-half secret play,” where the Telabastagan lantern —powered by 12,000 bulbs and more than 10 rotors— displayed interchanging half white, half myriad of colors that danced to music and later accompanied by the Lumanog brass band. 

“We really worked hard to perfect the play, along with the other combinations of colors and sequences we studied for months. And we are very happy we are back as the champion of the Giant Lantern Festival,” said Flores, whose crew took home for the village the ₱120,000 cash prize, the “rotating” trophy designed by distinguished artist Toym Imao, and a whole year of “bragging rights.”

Click here for more!

But let us not end this blogpost on a sad note. It's a lesson learned, at least for us. Anyway, to end this, let us just state that there are still many San Fernandino shops, particularly along the Manila North Road (now MacArthur Highway), which are dedicated to the manufacture and sale of Christmas lanterns. And it is because of this trade and the lantern festival which helped earn San Fernando the reputation as the place to be during this most wonderful season of the year!

A typical Parul Sampernandu in Balé Capampañgan.

Click here for more photos of our Giant Lantern Festival experience in Robinsons Starmills! And congratulations to all the winners! ¡Felices Pascuas, San Fernando!

❤L❤A❤F❤A❤M❤I❤L❤I❤A❤V❤I❤A❤J❤E❤R❤A❤

TRIVIA: Each giant lantern has a safety box: a 75 KVA generator which is powerful enough to electrify an entire barrio!