by John Francis Lagman
December 18, 2010
City of San Fernando, Pampanga
Over 25,000 spectators from different parts of the country and abroad gathered at the open grounds of Robinsons Starmills last December 18 to watch Ligligan Parul, the interplay of lights and colors of giant lanterns with background music.
Nine 20-foot lanterns representing different villages from the ‘Christmas capital of the Philippines’ participated at the annual giant lantern festival competition.
Participating villages include Dolores, Del Pilar, San Jose, San Juan, San Nicolas, Sta. Lucia, Sto. Niño, San Pedro and Telabastagan.
Fifty-two year old Efren Tiodin, lantern maker of Dolores, said winning the competition is a great honor for crasftsmen like him. His work which is fitted with 5,000 bulbs earned second place, winning a prize money of 50,000 pesos.
“We wanted to show the ingeniouity of the people of San Fernando. All of the participants are good. And I hope the future generations will be able to make further improvements,” Tiodin said.
His lantern flashed the word Peace combined with an image of 'Trudis Liit'. “I wish that everyone will be happy this Christmas, whatever their religion is,” he said.
Lantern-making usually takes one and a half month. For this year, the City government provided a subsidy of 120,000 pesos to the expenses of each villages.
Lanterns used at the competition are recycled by the villages every year. Bulbs, cable rods, paper, rotor system, fiberglass, plastic and other materials used are repaired according to the preferred design, harmony, organization and color combination.
The giant lantern of Sta. Lucia which is fitted with 8,600 bulbs and 9 rotors was named the grand winner by a group of local and foreign judges.
“We are very happy especially my constituents. We cannot buy this happiness. This is the fruit of our hardwork. Maybe God gave this championship to us because of our perseverance and dedication,” said Herman David Quiwa, 52, village Chairman.
“All the people of Sta. Lucia offered their prayers for us to win. Some 18 people volunteered for the lantern-making. The youths did not ask for salary and that’s why I’m very thankful,” Quiwa said.
Quiwa said they will save the prize money of 102,000 pesos to prepare for next competition.
The lantern of San Nicolas which conveyed the message of love combined with an image of an angel bagged the third place and a prize money of 30,000 pesos. All the members of participating villages received tropies as a sign of recognition.
Olive Lanuza, a Kapampangan who is based in Italy, enjoyed watching the competition with his children, grandchildren and some visitors from Norway. “I’m a bit dissappointed because Del Pilar, which used to be a hall of famer did not win. But It’s okay because the opponents really did well,” Lanuza said.
“In Italy you won’t feel this happy during Christmas. This time in Italy is winter and people are lazy going out in the snow. You’ll get crazy if you are alone. There is still no place like the Philippines, especially in Pampanga during Christmas. We came back for this celebration,” she said.
Eddie Chua, the over-all committee chairman, said the celebration commemorates 102 years of lantern making excellence. Lantern-making started in San Fernando in 1908.
“The main purpose of this festival is to bring joy and cheers. There is also a business side in this project because we wanted to promote tourism. Five months before Christmas every year, lantern-making is providing livelihood to our people. We sell lanterns not only here but also in other countries like the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, among others,” Chua said.
Chua said lantern parades around the City up to the Christmas day are also part of the celebration.
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