Parol Power
By MC Canlas

USERNAME PASSWORD COMING SOON Subscribe Now!

Following Pampanga’s tradition of “Ligligan Parul,” the Fil-Am community of San Francisco definitely knows what the bayanihan spirit is all about.

In the Christmas story, a bright star guided the three magi to the little town of Bethlehem. In our contemporary immigrant story, the parol, the popular Philippine lantern, usually hung in the typical Filipino home, is changing the holiday landscapes of many cities in America.

There must be a deeper reason why such a tradition has been carried over to our newfound home.

Pasko Na Naman: The Parol Lantern Festival and Parade begins with a three-month long workshop put on by the Bayanihan Community Center where participants create their own stars.

The parol symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem; it is a fount of light, a sign of hope amid the “darkness” in the world. In the “darkness” that hovers in our homeland and in the Diaspora, the parol emerges as a Filipino emblem that fosters unity and bayanihan (community spirit). The parol uplifts the spirit, instills a sense of pride and hope. Hanging the parol on front windows during the holiday season encourages other people to feel that they are not alone—hindi ka nag-iisa.

The parol is becoming the Filipinos’ bridging symbol between the homeland and the Diaspora, and it has become our gift to the world. Many expatriates and immigrant families buy and display these lanterns not only to rekindle the nostalgic Pasko, but also to let their neighbors see “we have our own Christmas symbol that we are proud of.”

The Filipinos in San Francisco are breaking ground and breaking through with the Parol Festival. This annual event is getting better, bigger, broader and brighter every year. Entering its third year, the annual festival starts a three-month-long series of parol-making workshops. The lanterns are then publicly exhibited. The festival climaxes with a lighting celebration that includes a procession and concert known as “Ligligan Parul” and a spectacular lantern parade.

Through the efforts of the Filipino American Development Foundation (FADF), the parol festival is rekindling the inter-village parol-making tradition of San Fernando, Pampanga and the Lantern Parade of the University of the Philippines in Diliman Quezon City. For FADF, parol-making and the parol festival are concrete ways to describe the concept of bayanihan, the spirit of working together for the common good. FADF manages the Bayanihan Community Center, a cornerstone of community work in the South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco.

The lantern parade has grown from a festive stroll in 2003 when more than 750 parols, handcrafted by the workshop participants, were paraded along Mission Street from 6th Street to Yerba Buena Gardens. The lanterns are now mounted on a carosa (small cart). Last year’s spectacle elicited oohs and aahs among passersby along the bustling downtown avenue. The City of San Francisco also holds the distinction of having displayed two 12-foot giant lanterns in front of St. Patrick Church and Yerba Buena Gardens for the entire month of December and celebrating Ligligan Parul in the Kapampangan tradition.

The Parol Festival is supported by the Community Arts and Education Program of the San Francisco Arts Commission, PG&E, San Francisco Foundation, MJM Management and Yerba Buena Gardens Festival.

In 2003 Robert David, a parol-maker from San Fernando, Pampanga (the Philippines’ parol capital) brought the giant lanterns from Pampanga to add glamour and spectacle to the Festival. Recognized both in the Philippines and internationally for his giant lanterns, including a world-record breaking 100-foot giant parol, Robert was bestowed the title of “Master Artist” in San Francisco. He is a recipient of the 2005 Individual Artist Award of the San Francisco Arts Commission. His grant award enabled him to install and showcase the giant lanterns and Ligligan Parul in San Francisco.

David’s other works are exhibited at the Conic gallery at the Zeum Children’s Museum in San Francisco, entitled “Lights from the Philippines: the Evolution of the Holiday Parol Lantern.” And next year, the Asian Art Museum is already planning to showcase his giant lanterns.

Parol master artist David comes from a family of giant lantern makers. His grandfather pioneered a safer way of placing candles in parol made of bamboo and rice paper in the 1920s. Later he experimented with oil lamps, kalburo (carbide) and gas-powered lights. David’s electrician father connected lightbulbs, cables and wires into a complicated circuit enriching the intricate designs of giant lanterns and giving birth to San Fernando’s “Ligligan Parul.”

In order to promote the parol and lantern-making tradition in America, the Parol Festival in San Francisco is more than happy to share the technology with Filipinos in the Diaspora.

To know more about the Parol Lantern Festival and Parade in San Francisco, visit www.bayanihancc.org.

MC Canlas, the Parol Lantern Festival and Parade’s founding director, is the Filipino American Development Foundation’s community strategist and historian. He is also a senior fellow of Wildflowers Institute (www.wildflowers.org).