The Giant Lantern Festival in Pampanga
Posted By philippine evolution staff on May 28, 2017
philippine-evolution.com
GIANT LANTERN FESTIVAL
The Giant Lantern Festival is an annual festival held in December (Saturday before Christmas Eve) in the City of San Fernando in the Philippines. The festival features a competition of giant lanterns. Because of the popularity of the festival, the city has been nicknamed the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines”. Source
San Fernando City in Pampanga is known to be the Christmas Capital of the Philippines for its the home of the Giant Lantern Festival(Ligligan Parol) held every year for the Yuletide season. Different barangays of San Fernando City battling to win the title of the best giant lantern in the region.
Lanterns of San Fernando Pampanga are different from other lanterns for they are deeply rooted in the Kapampangan’s culture through our religion, resiliency and inherit creativity and commitment to better our best. Kapampangan don’t settle no being just ordinary, they want to stand out in everything that they do. Source
Giant Lantern Festival is a yearly festival celebrated in December, on the Saturday that precedes Christmas Eve in the fabulous city of San Fernando.
Just as the name suggests, the festival features a contest of huge giant lanterns whose grand structure is an attraction in itself. History has it that a simpler version of the event held in Bacoor marked the start of the event. This was followed by the transfer of the event to San Fernando at the start of the 20th century. During this period, the lanterns measured just about three feet, a sharp contrast with the almost-sixteen feet witnessed today.
Over the years, the festival was marked with the inclusion of disco lights and further enhanced by the elaborate designs of the Giant Lanterns. One may wonder what all the fuss is about lights and lanterns, but the truth of the matter is that light is significant for local Filipinos as it symbolizes unwavering hope. Today, the festival is home to innovative designs that display creativity and are infused with originality. Source
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