Every December all roads lead to San Fernando Pampanga for the annual celebration of Ligligan Parul or the Giant Lantern Festival. This yearly spectacle is attended by thousands of local and foreign tourists alike.
But behind all this glimmering lights are a dizzying web of wires and lightbulbs only a genius can understand.
And this is what we exactly discovered during a recent media familiarization tour of the Giant Lantern Festival. The tour was organized by the City Tourism Office of San Fernando and was attended by local media from Pampanga as well as media from Manila.
Early morning of December 2 i traveled from Metro Manila to San Fernando the capital of the province of Pampanga for the tour.
At around 10am we left the heroes hall and off to our first destination : Brgy Telabastagan. Telabastagan is known as last year’s champion of ligligan parul so giving me access to their closely guarded secret excites me a lot.
Finally we arrived. Even if it’s covered with tarpaulin i can easily spot the lantern as it is soooo big! During the interview we learned that the minimum size of every parol must be no less than 20ft in diameter.
I can just imagine how can these master craftsmen create stunning visual play of lights without confusing themselves on the wires? I learned that Telabastagan uses 11,800 lightbulbs just for one lantern. According to Mr. Arnel Flores lantern designer of Telabastagan for this year, their expenses have already reached six hundred thousand pesos. They will also be using eight rotors to create the magical patterns on the lanterns.
Rotors are barrel shaped steel connected to a power source. When a thin hairpin-like instrument touches the surface of the barrel. The light bulb goes on. To turn it off. Portions of the barrel are covered with masking tape. The rotors are said to be the brain of the most dazzling lights of San Fernando Giant Lanterns.
Its just amazing to see an entire barrel covered with masking tape and then piece by piece they are removed according to the lighting pattern or design.
More than just the giant lanterns, we also got to tour a school where college students are busy preparing beautifully crafted lanterns using recycled materials to be used during the lantern parade one of the activities leading to the highlight of Ligligan parul.
We also visited Safer Village one of the participants for this years inter village Christmas Decor competition. I can really see the community effort in this competition. Each one is pitching in their contributions in any way. Whether its snacks for the guests or sounds for entertainment. It’s really amazing what the spirit of Christmas can bring.
This year’s highlight of Ligligan parul is slated December 13 at the Robinsons StarMills in San Fernando Pampanga.
Mekeni, Malaus pu kayo!