By Al Gerard de la Cruz, for CNN
updated 10:19 PM EST, Mon December 23, 2013
San Fernando is the birthplace of the Philippines' giant Christmas lantern and home to the annual Ligligan Parul (Giant Lantern Festival). Each lantern stands about 20 feet high and features 5,000 or so lights.
San Fernando isn't just famous for its giant lanterns. The city's smaller parul sampernandus lanterns vaulted to cottage-industry status in the 1960s when they moved away from classic designs in favor of more colorful creations inspired by everything from psychedelic kaleidoscopes to batik textiles.
San Fernando isn't just famous for its giant lanterns. The city's smaller parul sampernandus lanterns vaulted to cottage-industry status in the 1960s when they moved away from classic designs in favor of more colorful creations inspired by everything from psychedelic kaleidoscopes to batik textiles.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- San Fernando dubbed "Christmas Capital of the Philippines" for its Giant Lantern Festival
- A giant parol -- Christmas lantern -- costs around US$11,300-15,820 to build
- Smaller, mass-produced 'parul sampernandus' can be found hanging outside homes all over the Philippines
SAN FERNANDO, Philippines (CNN) -- In skeletal form, they look like gargantuan honeycombs, rising 20 feet into the air.
They are the largest incarnations of the Philippines' parol, an eye-dazzling electric Christmas lantern that symbolizes the Star of Bethlehem.
In action they're truly a sight to behold. Each giant parol features a series of thousands of spinning lights synchronized by seven large steel drums -- the rotors.
When the parol spins, the rotor hits a row of hairpins, electrifying the bulbs.
Though smaller parols for household use have more latitude in covering, with choices like capiz shells and fiberglass, the giant lanterns usually stick to polyvinyl plastic.
Only 10 or so of the giant parols are produced a year to compete in San Fernando's Ligligan Parul, or Giant Lantern Festival. It has been held every December for the last 80 years in Pampanga province, about 75 kilometers outside of Manila.
It's this yuletide fervor for the nationally loved electric star that has lent credence to San Fernando's cachet as the "Christmas Capital of the Philippines." And likely even Asia.
Ernesto 'Erning' David Quiwa, great-grandson of Francisco Estanislao, the first known parol-maker.
Five generations of parol makers
When visiting the San Fernando barangay (village) of Santa Lucia, the "home of giant lanterns," it's not unusual to behold a parol behemoth under construction right on the curb no matter what time of year.
The legend behind some of the biggest and best parols to come out of Santa Lucia in recent times is Ernesto 'Erning' David Quiwa, 66. Quiwa is the great grandson of the first known maker of the famed parol -- Francisco Estanislao.
On a recent visit to Quiwa's workshop, the parol master was busy overseeing the production of two giant lanterns. A worker was scaling the scaffolding to configure the 16-footer's 5,250 light bulbs.
Quiwa learned the craft from his uncles, one of whom in 1957 introduced the first parol rotor.
All five of Quiwa's children have ventured into the parol business.
"I never really taught my children," Quiwa says. "They learned on their own. Maybe it's in the blood."
