Pampanga’s giant lanterns light up sky

2012 “Ligligan Parul” Giant Lantern Festival (Photo By Ramon FVelasquez – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga— Giant and brightly-colored lanterns lit up the evening sky as this year’s ‘Ligligan ng Parul’ took center stage Saturday at the Robinsons Starmills here.

Thousands of local and foreign tourists flocked here to witness the annual festival that gave the city the distinction of being the Christmas Capital of the Philippines.

The spectators were all eyes as the parol makers from barangays Dolores, Sta Lucia, Telebastagan, Sindalan, San Juan, San Nicolas, Calulut, San Jose, Del Pilar and Del Rosario showed their creativity and craftsmanship for the yearly competition of the best and grandest giant lanterns.

Loud cheers filled the air as the audience saw the grand display of spectacular lights, the interplay of colors and kaleidoscopic patterns of the giant lanterns to the beat of lively music.

“Every year, we are here to witness this spectacular festival. It is really amazing to see and watch those giant lanterns which bring to us the warmth and joys of Christmas,” said Susan Malgapo from Cabiao, Nueva Ecija.

“The giant lantern festival has been around for years, but I can still feel the burst of excitement every time I see each lantern designed with intricate and unique patterns that you can only find in this province,” said Rogelio Sampang from Arayat town.

Maylene Gamboa, an overseas Filipino worker from Singapore, said “this is my first time to watch this Giant Lantern Festival and it is really different. I do miss Filipino Christmas traditions such as this.”

“My friends and I traveled all the way from Olongapo City and it is really exciting to see those huge brightly-colored lanterns. Those are all nice and beautiful,” Nora Gorospe said.

But only one stood the best among the 10 entries.

Barangay Dolores once again emerged as this year’s champion for its fourth consecutive victory since 2014. This was followed by Barangay San Jose which landed as first runner-up and Barangay Del Pilar as second runner-up.

After the competition, there will be lantern exhibitions from December 17-21, December 25 and 30 and January 1-2 at the Robinsons Starmills.

The 20-foot-tall manually-operated lanterns will also be exhibited in Barangay Telabastagan here on December 22; Greenfields Subdivision in Barangay Sindalan (December 23) and in front of the City Hall (December 24).

The lanterns will also be brought to the Marquee Mall in Angeles City on December 28 and 29.