It was the first time that I ever had the chance to be a part of a festivity that you could find in Philippine history books for grade school (with the exclusion of the fertility dance and ritual of Obando, Bulacan which I personally counted off because I have no excuse to not experience it).
From what I learned in grade school, Pahiyas Festival is a very colorful festival in Lucban, Quezon held every 15th of May, during the feast day of San Isidro Labrador, as thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. In this festival, the house owners along Lucban town center participate by decorating their houses with brightly-colored
kiping, leaf-shaped
wafer made from rice paste. There are invited judges and the house with the best decoration gets an award.
Upon experiencing the Pahiyas Festival, I learned two things that I did not know before:
1. The
kiping is edible, and there are sidewalk vendors all around selling
kiping (a friend even bought some to bring home as
pasalubong).
2.
Kiping is not the only material used as decoration. Majority of the houses use fruits, vegetables and other agricultural products. There are also some houses that are creative enough to use all sorts of materials that they could think of just to make their decorations unique (though ensuring that the main decorations are still from agricultural products).
Here are the snapshots from my Pahiyas Festival experience:
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| group photo at Pahiyas Festival 2011 part 1 |
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| group photo at Pahiyas Festival 2011 part 2 |
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| group photo at Pahiyas Festival 2011 part 3 |
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| group photo at Pahiyas Festival 2011 part 4 |
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| Farm-like decor at one of the biggest houses in Lucban |
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| Bili na po kayo ng gulay! :) |
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| I love this Mario display! |
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| with the "farmers" |
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| cowgirl with the horses |
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| agricultural feast of colors part 1 |
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| agricultural feast of colors part 2 |
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| agricultural feast of colors part 3 |
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| agricultural feast of colors part 4 |
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| agricultural feast of colors part 5 |
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| agricultural feast of colors part 6 |
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| The suka store used bayong and bottles as decoration. |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 1 |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 2 |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 3 |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 4 |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 5 (with Mt. Banahaw on the background) |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 6 |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 7 |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 8 |
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| noteworthy decorations at Pahiyas Festival part 9 |
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| a colorful Pahiyas Festival tarpaulin display |
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| Translation: Thank You Lord for the blessings of coconut, fruits, vegetables and rice. Long live the farmers! :) |
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| with a Lukbanin beauty queen! |
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| the cowgirls posing with a wall decor from one of the houses |
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| with the sayote curtain |
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| brightly painted bayong used to make a flower display |
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| The first time I saw kids selling ice cream on the street! |
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| Translation: Let's go! :D |
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| the cowgirls with the carved vegetables used as display |
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| pure lambanong libre tagay (plus pulutan!) |
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| a cowgirl selling vegetables |
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| live band performing on the street |
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| Fan meets idol. Dora meets me.:D |
THE ESSENTIALS:
- Wear comfortable shoes as you have to walk throughout the whole town for 2-3 hours to witness all the decorations and to fully enjoy this festivity. I emphasize shoes to protect your feet from being stepped on by the huge crowd of tourists enjoying the festivity.
- Bring an umbrella/wear hats/sunblock/light clothing that could somewhat protect your skin from the heat of the sun yet would not cause you to sweat much. Hence, I don't recommend wearing a denim jacket like I did.
- Also, bring a fan, water and towel.
- If you are the type who is uncomfortable with a huge crowd, then it's time to replace attending Pahiyas Festival in your bucket list with another item that does not involve a huge crowd and heat.
- Any form of transportation is not allowed to enter the town center come the day of the Pahiyas Festival. Since we rented a van, we told the driver to park outside the town center beforehand and then we walked (a very long walk) our way to where he parked when we were about to get home.
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