Pampanga | Ligligan Parul 2016: Winners, Schedule of Exhibits, Etc.

giant lantern of barangay San Nicolas - Ligligan Parul 2016 participant

Pampanga's Giant Lantern Festival, also known as Ligligan Parul, is an annual event held in December in the City of San Fernando. Dubbed as the "Christmas Capital of the Philippines", the festival traced it's roots in Bacolor (former capital of Pampanga) and as far back as 1908 when the first festival began. This festival is an offshoot of a religious activity called "lubenas", a parade of lights wherein the people of the community bring lanterns before going to church for misa de gallo. The first lantern competition, however, was held in the 1930's in honor of the first lady of Pres. Manuel L. Quezon, First Lady Aurora Aragon. 

This year, the competition was held two Saturdays ago, December 17. I was lucky to have witnessed it this year; thanks to my dearest BFF for joining me and accompanying me to this event. I wasn't able to take much photos because I didn't bring a tripod but I'm still thankful, at least I was able to actually watch it and not concentrate on taking photos. I hope to be back next time to take more photos and to finally buy a Fernandino-made parol. Hopefully... :)

Giant Lantern Festival 2016 Winners

winning lantern (champion) - Ligligan Parul 2016

1st runner-up: barangay Calulut - no photo, unfortunately but watch the video of the grand showdown below, barangay Calulut is the rightmost lantern in the video. :)

winning lantern (2nd runner-up) - Ligligan Parul 2016

Schedule of Exhibits

For those who weren't able to witness the competition proper last December 17, you may witness the display of the giant lanterns in the following dates and venues:

December 18 - 21, 7:00PM - Robinson's Starmills
December 22, 7:00PM - Essel Park, Brgy. Telebastagan
December 23, 7:00PM - Greenfields, Brgy. Sindalan
December 24, 11:00PM - Brgy. Poblacion
December 25 - 30, 7:00PM - Robinson's Starmills
December 29 - 30, 6:00PM - Marquee Mall
January 1, 7:00PM - Robinson's Starmills

barangay Del Pilar lantern - Ligligan Parul 2016 participant

Giant Lantern Festival 2016 Showdown

Watch the showdown between barangay Sta. Lucia, the acknowledged pioneer in lantern making and where the inventor of the rotors (the steel barrels that manipulates the play of lights and patterns on the lantern) came from and this year's winner, barangay Dolores in the video below. Pretend for a while you didn't know yet the winner, which would you choose between these two?

Ligligan Parul 2016: group showdown!

Watch the video below for the grand showdown among all the participating barangays in this year's giant lantern festival competition. The showdown was accompanied by a live music by Betty's (not sure of the name) Band 48, the tune of which is unknown to the participants until the showdown starts.

Ligligan Parul 2016: The Grand Showdown!

~ oo00oo ~

Pampanga's Giant Lantern Festival is indeed "the biggest, brightest and most colorful Christmas event in our country". It showcases the artistry and craftsmanship of Filipinos, Fernandinos particularly, through painstakingly building and creating intricate designs and patterns that become the giant (20 feet in diameter) lanterns. Truly, it's a delight to watch and get mesmerized by the myriad (around 14 thousand bulbs) of colorful lights and kaleidoscopic patterns as they dance to the tune of lively Christmas songs (and other pop music).

Note: Participating giant lanterns in this year's Ligligan Parul are still on display at the exhibit. If you want to witness the spectacular display of giant lanterns, please check above-posted schedule and venue.

Have a happy and blessed holidays everyone, Merry Christmas! ^_^

~ oo00oo ~

Ligligan Parul 2016

San Fernando City, Pampanga

Date of Visit: December 17, 2016

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Festival Cuisine - Lubao

Road trip is synonymous to food trip for me and my friend. We usually look for a place to eat on our way to our destination and for our Araw ng Kagitingan (Filipino Day of Valor) road trip, we ended up at Festival Cuisine in Lubao, Pampanga.

We left Quezon City late in the morning so we were just in Pampanga during lunch time. We were looking for a place to eat and were resigned to the idea that we'll end up having our lunch in one of the fast food chains available in the area when we spotted Festival Cuisine's poster ads along the road. We saw from the ads that they're offering buffet lunch for 199 Php so we slowed down a bit and look for the restaurant. The restaurant is located along Subic-Olongapo Road in Lubao, beside Lubao's stopover terminal. It offers mainly Filipino dishes like adobo, sinigang, kare-kare and the likes. 

The restaurant has no air-conditioning but the wide screened windows give the diners a fresh feel. And the dining area is big, going to and fro the buffet table is easy. I also noticed function rooms adjacent to the restaurant so I guess it caters to special events, too.

the restaurant's interior

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Hot Air Balloon Festival - Night Glow

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