Remembering Comm2 - the Giant Lantern Festival

This is my term paper for my Communication 2 Course. Yea its bad. I'm not a professional writer you know. And I made most of it for like.. 3 days? (mwahaha.. rush.. rush..) I've worked on this for a semester! Could you believe that?

Understanding the Ligligan Parul:

The Historical Roots and Cultural Aspects of the

Giant Lantern Festival in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga

Innovative yet indigenous, these are the Giant Lanterns of the City of San Fernando, Pampanga. Lanterns sized in gargantuan proportions are gathered together in SM parking lot at the Saturday before Christmas Day. The celebration is termed “Ligligan Parul” (in English, lantern competition) by the Kapampangans and as the Giant Lantern Festival by people who do not speak Kapampangan.

What a sight to behold – those magnificent gigantic lanterns against the inky blue evening sky! Their geometric shapes and myriad colors flash, pulsate, and whirl into psychedelic wonders. Intricate patterns mesmerize for a couple of seconds then change again, and again, and again.

Their kaleidoscopic radiance is cast by hundreds of thousands of blinking lights. Each parol has a safety box and a 75 KVA generator, powerful enough to light an entire barrio. Many entries are also high-tech and computerized.

The popular shapes of decades ago…which evolved from the simple five-pointed star are still around, but are somewhat “hidden” in the maze of brilliant colors and complex configurations of the parols as they rhythmically move to the dance of brass bands.¹

The Giant Lantern Festival is a pride of every Fernandino (San FernandoSan Fernando are so committed to the Giant Lantern Festival that they consider those Giant Lanterns as badges of honor, and they spend almost an entire year making them. Most people who see this work of art would tell that the San Fernando Lantern is the “real” parol.² local). The experienced lantern makers from the City of

It is also the icon of the city, as Ivan Anthony Henares once said, “No one can dispute the fact that the Giant Lantern Festival of San Fernando is the event that the province of Pampanga is most known for.” The City of San Fernando, Pampanga is dubbed as “The Christmas Capital of the Philippines.

It is also the icon of the city, as Ivan Anthony Henares once said, “No one can dispute the fact that the Giant Lantern Festival of San Fernando is the event that the province of Pampanga is most known for.” The City of San Fernando, Pampanga is dubbed as “The Christmas Capital of the Philippines” because of these Giant Lanterns and the city’s lantern-making industry.³ Ask someone who lives outside Pampanga about the City of San Fernando and for sure he would talk about its Giant Lanterns and describe the activity.

The Giant Lantern Festival is among the highlights of Christmas celebration in the country. As they are admired here in the Philippines, the Giant Lanterns are also acclaimed abroad. The City of San Fernando has received attention and awards from international events because of the Giant Lanterns. The lanterns were showcased in the 75^th anniversary of the Philippine-Hawaii Commission in 1979, the Kunichiwa Asian Fair in Yokohama, Japan in 1989, the World Expo in Sevilla, Spain in 1992, and the Hollywood Christmas Parade in 1993. The Philippine float featured the San Fernando Giant Lantern on the latter event and won top honors.⁴ Another instance when the Giant Lanterns of San Fernando won was during the 84^th Annual Christmas Parade in Los Angeles, California in 1994, where the Giant Lantern of the City of San Fernando won the Best Float Award.⁵ The San Fernando Giant Lantern even made it to the Guinness World Record as “The World’s Biggest Lantern”, measuring forty-two feet high.⁶

Because it is popular, the Giant Lantern Festival is the biggest festival in the City of San Fernando. The city government gives so much value on the Giant Lantern Festival

because this yearly town attraction lures tourists to view the artistry that goes into lantern-making.⁷ The SM Amphitheatre, present location of the Giant Lantern Festival, is always jam-packed with spectators every time the event is held, and people literally spills out from the place.⁸ The city government also provides most of the expenses of each lantern,⁹ amounting at one hundred thousand pesos on 2005.¹⁰

To truly appreciate the Giant Lanterns, one must get acquainted with the historical roots and the powerful cultural traditions behind them. At present, there are two accounts that provide us information about the earliest roots of the Giant Lantern Festival.

The first account, by Robby Tantingco in his article “The Giant Lanterns of Pampanga,” states that the Giant Lantern Festival came from the processions during the La Naval Fiesta of San Fernando’s neighboring town, Bacolor. Tantingco explains that people from Bacolor used paper lanterns with candles inside mounted on bamboo poles to illuminate the procession. He furthers his statement by saying that Bacolor natives used such lanterns because the La Naval Fiesta occurs during the breezy months of October and November. Lanterns were stored to be used again for the nine-day Lubenas in December.¹¹

The other account, the most frequently told, states that the Giant Lantern Festival came directly from the Lubenas. The Lubenas, also a procession, is done during the eve of every Simbang Gabi. People paraded their patron saints, called poon for nine days, and used lanterns to light the way.

…the Pampangos would parade down dirt roads through the barrios carrying colorful candlelit lanterns made of bamboo and rice paper while singing religious hymns.¹²

Old Bacolor folks used lanterns similar to the ones used during La Naval Fiesta – made of paper, with candles inside, and mounted on bamboo poles.¹³

Americans, the then-new colonizers, realized that the location of San Fernando is convenient, has a booming economy and strategically located. They transferred the provincial capital of Pampanga from Bacolor to San Fernando in August of 1904.

According to young historian Ivan Anthony Henares, everything in Bacolor was physically transferred, including the tradition of Lubenas and its quaint paper lanterns.¹⁴

By recognizing where the traditions of La Naval Fiesta and the Lubenas came from, we can infer that the Giant Lantern Festival roots from the town of Bacolor.

The original Lubenas lanterns, the star-shaped variant, measured just two feet in diameter and were made out of bamboo and other locally available materials.¹⁵ Lanterns used during Lubenas evolved when the celebration came to San Fernando town – as a result of the major rise in economy that the residents felt during that time. Most of the people have changed their lifestyles drastically; as Robby Tantingco said, locals became “nouveau rich” under the sponsorship of the Americans. The lifestyle change of the people is evidenced by the flourishing of many mansions all over San Fernando for that period.¹⁶

The Lubenas lantern also benefited from the major economic boom that Fernandinos faced. They spruced up their lantern. They replaced paper with cloth and the candles with carbide-powered lamps. They also made the big lantern of Lubenas even bigger, measuring as big as ten feet in those early days¹⁷, and the designs became much more intricate¹⁸.

The date of the first Giant Lantern Festival is disputed until now. The bigger “big lantern” eventually broke away from the Lubenas, and became the forerunner of the Giant Lanterns.¹⁹ Each barrio created a big lantern for the Lubenas²⁰, and in 1908, the Lubenas became a competition of lanterns.²¹

Electricity was introduced to Pampanga in 1931. Henares says that the Giant Lantern Festival started after this event. Carbide lamps were replaced by light bulbs, highlighting the color of the lantern more and creating an illusion of “dancing” lights. The illusion was done by turning the switches on and off following the beat of the music. The switches are called Kalakati by the Kapampangans.²² More designs were created when electricity was introduced.²³

Another version about the story of the start of the Giant Lantern Festival was claimed by old San Fernando folks. They said that the Giant Lantern festival started during the time of Manuel Luis Quezon’s presidency. According to Ivan Anthony Henares:

…At that time, President Quezon was trying to make Pampanga a model province. In fact, Quezon made Arayat his resting place and converted the legendary Mount Arayat into a tourist resort. As a show of gratitude to Quezon, the people of San Fernando held a Christmas lantern contest to honor the first family. Quezon himself donated the prize for this lantern contest, which was personally awarded to the winner by First Lady Aurora Aragon Quezon. ²⁴

More innovations were introduced to the Giant Lanterns in the years that followed. The rotor, a mechanism that makes the Giant Lanterns “dance”, was invented by Rodolfo

David around 1930’s.²⁵ It consists of a large steel barrel, hairpins, electric wires, and strips of masking tape. The rotor made operation of the Giant Lanterns easier because it substituted the hand-controlled switches called Kalakati- it determines what light should be turned on or off.²⁶ The mechanism is used up to this day.²⁷

Lantern-makers replaced cloth with papel de hapon around the early 1940’s. The David clan, headed by Severino David, popularized it. The replacement was considered as a “major aesthetic leap” since papel de hapon can be used easily. Another person from the David clan, named Rodolfo David, created a new lantern design which defined the so-called classic San Fernando Lantern.²⁸Another change experienced by the Giant Lanterns was when papel de hapon was replaced by colored plastic vinyl.²⁹ Plastic vinyl is more durable: it does not wear out when wet at it does not tear out easily.

Now that the historical roots of the Giant Lanterns of the City of San Fernando, Pampanga is discussed, we now move forward to their cultural aspects. The Giant Lanterns of the City of San Fernando was created because of the Kapampangan’s devotion to religion, ingenuity, and craftsmanship. ^{30, 31, 32, 33}

To this day, lives of the Kapampangans are heavily influenced by Roman Catholicism from birth to death. Many traditional beliefs and practices associated with Christian traditions are still observed in Pampanga.³⁴ As discussed earlier, the Festival started from the religious observances of the La Naval Fiesta and the Lubenas. The La Naval Fiesta of Bacolor is a celebration of Spanish fleets’, victory over the Dutch:

In the Philippines of 1646, there were … Dutch and English privateers who wanted the riches of the archipelago and who wanted to replace Catholicism with Dutch Protestant Calvinism. … There were five bloody naval battles between the greatly outnumbered Spanish - Catholic - Phillipine foces [Philippine forces, sic] and the Dutch marauders. Only fifteen of the defenders of Manilla [Philippine - Manila, sic] were lost in all of the battles. The Dutch, then political enemies of the Spanish, retreated, and never again threatened to destroy the integrity of the islands by annexing them to the Dutch East Indies.

Before each of the battles, the intercession of Our Lady was fervently sought. Crew members -- Spanish soldiers, religious, and Filipinos -- vowed special homage to Our Lady for a victorious battle. True to their Latin heritage and Catholic pride, the victorious defenders petitioned official church recognition and declaration of the naval victories of 1646 as miracles worked by the Mother of God.³⁵

The Lubenas is celebrated nine dawns before Christmas day. Kapampangans sleep late for the procession and wake up early the next day as a sign of penance and as preparation for the birth of Christ.³⁶ The Lubenas is a corruption of the word Novena, referring to the nine-day dawn Masses or Simbang Gabi. Tantingco, from another of his article, tells us that during the nineteenth century, the rest of the Philippines were content for attending those Masses for nine consecutive days, Kapampangans “went a step farther” by doing the Lubenas. Moreover, he conveys that “Kapampangans are known for their excesses and for taking their

religion very seriously”.³⁷

The Kapampangans express their creative geniuses through the Giant Lanterns. Even though there are many things to consider in making a Giant Lantern, such as the design, the “dance” of the lights, and the expenses, lantern makers can still manage to do it because of their creativity:

Thinking about it, one needs a lot of creativity and technical know-how in designing a giant lantern. It is not as easy as getting a pen and paper and drawing a symmetrical design. As the giant lantern maker visualizes his design, he also has to take into consideration the interplay of lights and colors. And just to illustrate the magnitude of difficulty, the designer should be able to picture when each of the 3,500 light bulbs should go on and off. And just to stress, no computers are involved in the interplay of lights. Everything is done manually, yet the result produced by the lantern makers of San Fernando can even rival light effects done by computers. ³⁸

The Giant Lantern Festival is “a showcase of the Kapampangans’ willingness to overspend just to produce a thing of beauty.”³⁹ As almost everyone outside Pampanga knows, the Kapampangans are so inclined in upscale things – they dress fashionably and their houses mostly elaborate. Mr. Rhayan Melendres, an instructor from the University, always explains, hindi mo malalaman kung sino sa mga Kapampangan ang mahirap o mayaman, mapoporma kung manamit at madalas magaganda ang gamit ng mga ‘yan (you’ll never know who in Pampanga is rich or poor, they dress up nicely and their things are mostly beautiful).

The Kapampangan artisans express their ingenuity through the Giant Lanterns. Many designs have been made since the beginning of the festival. From the original five-pointed star, the lanterns evolved into variants of different proportions and sizes. Some pattern designs are fan-like, some like petals, and some were just really bizarre – all created by the Kapampangans. As said, the City of San Fernando is home to the country’s best

lantern makers. It is the San Fernando lanterns that represent the ultimate in lantern art.⁴⁰

San Fernando residents regard the Giant Lantern Festival as an activity that boosts their unity and fosters their morale. Fernandinos continue celebrating the Giant Lantern Festival despite of the Mount Pinatubo tragedy that destroyed most of the city⁴¹ and financial crisis that faces our economy nowadays.⁴² Truly, Fernandinos would not let anything hold back their celebration.

The Giant Lantern Festival - rooted in religious observations, molded by traditions, and developed through technology – are the heirlooms of the Fernandino community. Former City of San Fernando Mayor Dr. Rey B. Aquino even said: “The Giant Lantern Festival is a merry movable feast that highlights not only the Kapampangan tradition but talent on Christmas.”⁴³ It contains an ancient folk technology passed down from the ancestors to the modern-day lantern makers and the Giant Lanterns themselves.⁴⁴ Even if it entails tremendous hard work and much amount of money, San Fernando locals still take pride in this yearly tradition. The Giant Lanterns have been created to symbolize the continuous glow in our hearts and spirit during the holiday season.⁴⁵

Pampanga has definitely lived up to its title as the Christmas Capital of the Philippines.

Endnotes:

¹Reynaldo Gamboa Alejandro and Marla Yotoko Chorengel, Pasko! The Philippine ChristmasPasig City: National Bookstore Inc., and Anvil Publishing Inc, 1998) pp. 79-80

²Giselle Javison (ed.), “A Star is Born,” SEAir Inflight Magazine, December 2005 to January 2006, pp.1

³Ivan Anthony Henares, “Christmas Capital of the Philippines: The Story Behind the Giant Lanterns of San Fernando,” in Kapampangan Homepage, n.d. (27 January 2007)

⁴Javison, op. cit.

⁵Christina Hermoso, “Lantern-making, a seasonal but profitable business in Pampanga,” Manila Bulletin, November 29, 1998, p. 29

⁶Romeo C. Cabusao, San Fernando: Ing Balen Kung Tibuan (San Fernando, Pampanga: Arkibo Sentru Kapampangan) p. 180

⁸“Giant Lanterns on Parade,” Manila Bulletin, December 29, 2006, p. C-2

⁹Henares, op. cit.

¹⁰Havison, op. cit.

¹¹Tantingco, “The Giant Lanterns of Pampanga,” SunStar Pampanga, December 19, 2006, p. 3

¹²Ibid

¹³Editorial and Art Departments of World Book Inc, Christmas in the Philippines, (Chicago, Illinois: World Book Inc., 1990) p. 48

¹⁴Henares, op. cit.

¹⁷Ibid

¹⁵Tantingco, op. cit.

¹⁶Ibid

¹⁸Henares, op. cit.

¹⁸Henares, op. cit.

¹⁹Tantingco, op. cit.

²⁰Henares, op. cit.

²¹Tantingco, op. cit.

²²Javison, op. cit.

²³Tantingco, op. cit.

²⁴Henares, op. cit.

²⁵Tantingco, op. cit.

²⁶Henares, op. cit.

²⁷Tantingco, op. cit.

²⁸Ibid

²⁹Ibid

³⁰E.Z. Manlapaz, M. Cleto, N.G. Tiongson, “Pampango,” CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art, II, p. 210

³¹Tantingco, op. cit.

³²Henares, op. cit.

³³ Editorial, Manila Bulletin, December 18, 1999, p. 18

³⁴Christina Hermoso, “Pampanga lantern festival set Sunday in San F’nando,” Manila Bulletin, December 17, 1997, p. 31

³⁵Ann Ball, “Our Lady of the Rosary of the Philippines: La Naval of Manila,” in Holy Spirit Interactive, n.d. (26 February 2007)

³⁶Manlapaz, et al., Ibid

³⁷Robby Tantingco, “Lubenas is Pampanga’s precious cultural gem,” SunStar Pampanga, December 12, 2006, p. 5

³⁸Henares, op. cit.

³⁹Robby Tantingco, “8 Unique Kapampangan Folk Festivals,” Singsing, n.d., p. 19

⁴⁰Javison, op. cit.

⁴¹San Fernando Tourism Department, The Program of the1997 Giant Lantern Festival, back cover.

⁴² “‘Ligligan Parul’ continues amid SF’s financial woes,” SunStar Pampanga, September 28, 2004, p. 3

⁴³Fred Roxas, Manila Bulletin, December 22, 1999, p. 23

⁴⁴Javison, op. cit.

⁴⁵Fred Roxas, Manila Bulletin, December 20, 1997, p. 20