Pahiyas Festival is the feast that celebrates the bountiful harvest that the people of Lucban received from God. It also serves as Lucbanon’s thank offering to God for all the blessings that they received. The patron saint of Pahiyas Festival is San Isidro.
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What made the Pahiyas Festival famous are the houses that were dressed like lanterns. For the festival, houses are covered with the colorful kiping and rice grains. Other farm produce like vegetables and fruits were also used to make the house more beautiful. The house that is the prettiest and has the most creative design will be judged as the best house for the year’s Pahiyas Festival.
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Welcome to Pahiyas Festival 2010
What made the Pahiyas Festival famous are the houses that were dressed like lanterns. For the festival, houses are covered with the colorful kiping and rice grains. Other farm produce like vegetables and fruits were also used to make the house more beautiful. The house that is the prettiest and has the most creative design will be judged as the best house for the year’s Pahiyas Festival.
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Houses in Lucban are like Christmas lanterns.
Decorated houses are more amazing during the night.
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This house is this year's grand champion of the Pahiyas Festival.
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Kiping is the unique element in each of the decorated houses in Pahiyas Festival. Kiping is a blade-thin cracker that was made from the flour of grounded rice. It is unflavored and is in different color. Kiping serves as the unique decorative element for the Pahiyas Festival. After the festival, people pick the kiping to be cooked and eaten.
The colorful kiping,
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Gaiety filled the streets of Lucban as people watched the parades of the different floats. Just like the houses, floats are designed with kiping, vegetables, and fruits.
Beautiful Lucbanons also paraded much to the elation of the audience (including me). Native products and the Pahiyas Festival are the motif of the clothes worn by the parade participants.
Not to be outdone, carabaos (water buffalo) pulling decorated sleds were also paraded. People were amazed and, at the same time, scared of the big water buffaloes and their large horns.
Pahiyas festival is the busiest day for Lucban. Many tourists go to this town to see the decorated houses and join in the festivities. People who have relatives or friends in Lucban visit the town to eat the delicacies offered by the town for free. Fiesta in the Philippines is one happy affair and the Pahiyas Festival is not different.
A beautiful float of Pahiyas Festival.
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Mother and daughter team-up.
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Best float of Pahiyas Festival 2010.
Beautiful Lucbanons also paraded much to the elation of the audience (including me). Native products and the Pahiyas Festival are the motif of the clothes worn by the parade participants.
Purple is the color of royalty.
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The fairest of them all. ;-)
Not to be outdone, carabaos (water buffalo) pulling decorated sleds were also paraded. People were amazed and, at the same time, scared of the big water buffaloes and their large horns.
And this carabao beat them all.
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Expect heavy traffic during the Pahiyas festival. Roads that will be used for the parade are closed and the number of visitors in the town causes the traffic to move very slowly. Visitors usually go down outside of the town and walk towards the poblacion. To enjoy the Pahiyas Festival, it is suggested that you walk around town to see the interesting things that the festival is offering.
Lucban festival made these cars trapped in a hellish traffic.
Stalls, offering pasalubong (food) and other souvenirs, were set-up all around the town. There are shops selling hats, delicacies from Lucban, souvenir t-shirts, keychain, and other souvenir items. Visitors have many items to choose from.
Broas? Apas? Nuts? Any pasalubong you want is available.
Nothing beats the sun like these cool hats.
My latest Lucban visit is really amazing. Even though I was irritated by the long travel to Lucban from Manila, the grandness of the Pahiyas Festival is more than enough for me to feel that my visit is very well worth it.
Here are more pictures of the Pahiyas Festival:
The colourful lanterns! :'D
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