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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Food Trip: Muchas Gracias' Creamy Halo-halo

Muchas Gracias - San Fernando City, La Union

What's the best way to refresh after being exposed to sun's scorching heat? Going swimming is one but what if you don't have time for that? Then having some coolers, like halo-halo, will do; and that's what we did after our noon-time visit to Pindangan Ruins.

We were supposed to try halo halo from Halo-halo de Iloko but the trike driver mistakenly brought us here at Muchas Gracias instead. Outside, I was wondering if Halo-halo de Iloko changed their name. I've seen several photos of the resto when I was browsing the internet so I knew this wasn't the one I'm looking for. But instead of asking the driver to bring us to Halo-halo de Iloko, we decided to try Muchas Gracias; it does have halo halo too, anyway. Later, I found out from the owner/manager (I assume the lady manning the cash register is the owner/manager) that Halo-halo de Iloko used to be situated here and that she's a former part-owner of the said resto, may be that's why the trike driver brought us here. ;)

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Filipino - Chinese Friendship Pagoda

Last 2011, I visited La Union for the first time. I was with a friend then who went there for some family matters. Last year (3rd week of November), I again went with them. But instead of a road trip as was before, we rode the bus this time. It was just a 1-day trip, a really short stop (our travel time is way longer than our stay here) but I was still able to enjoy the day and visit several places which I haven't seen on my first visit to La Union, San Fernando in particular. ;)

How to Get There | Viron Experience

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Midway Grill and Restaurant

Tired and starving because of the seven (7) hours of butt-numbing trip to La Union (I went there with a friend who's attending some family business then), we decided to stop by San Fernando City and had our lunch there before we proceeded to our destination. We headed to Midway Grill and Restaurant, one of the restaurants I remember was mentioned and suggested in some blogsites.

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