Giant Lantern Festival kicks off online celebration of Philippine festivals
The annual Giant Lantern Festival in Pampanga goes virtual this year and kicks off a series of online celebrations called "Fiesta Filipinas: An Online Celebration of Philippine Festivals."
Chantal Lontoc-del Rosario and Andrei Felix during the virtual celebration of the Giant Lantern Festival / Source: @dfaphl (FB)
The series of online celebrations is an initiative by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA). Its goal is to promote Philippine culture and carry on the tradition of celebrating the country's most anticipated fiestas, while also ensuring the safety of everyone in the face of the pandemic.
It is a six-part, multi-format virtual event, which will consist of live and pre-recorded videos of the festival location and the previous year's celebration.
As mentioned above, the series of virtual celebrations begins this month with the Giant Lantern Festival in the City of San Fernando, Pampanga.
The Giant Lantern Festival celebration was recently streamed live on DFA's official Facebook page, which was hosted by Chal Lontoc-del Rosario and Andrei Felix.
It showcased the best of Pampanga's culture, history, tourist spots, food and traditions, including Ligligan Parul or the Giant Lantern Festival.
They discussed the history of the Giant Lantern Festival and even had a parol-making tutorial.
But aside from the digital aspect of the celebration, there's also a physical display of the giant lanterns at the 2nd floor of Robinsons Starmills Pampanga near Robinsons Movieworld, which people can marvel at in person.
However, interested viewers would need to pre-register in the Giant Lantern Festival's official website, as the nightly display will be exclusive for drive-in guests only.
No walk-in guests will be accommodated and all drive-in guests will be required to wear a face mask and full face shield.
The nightly display is held every 5:30 P.M. and will run until January 3, 2021, with the exemption of December 24 and 31.
The colorful and intricately designed parols on display were made by seven participating barangays of San Fernando, namely Bulaon, Calulut, Sto. Niño, San Nicolas, Sta. Lucia, San Juan, and Telabastagan,
Giant Lantern Festival 2020 / Source: Robinsons Starmills
Other events lined up for Fiesta Filipinas are the following:
1. Sinulog, Ati-Atihan, and Dinagyang Festivals (30 January 2021)
2. Panagbenga Festival (27 February 2021)
3. Visita Iglesia (20 March 2021)
4. Lami-Lamihan Festival (24 April 2021)
5. Flores De Mayo/ Santacruzan (29 May 2021).
With this innovative approach to celebrating fiestas, nothing can stop Filipinos from celebrating their culture and traditions--not even the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more lifestyle content, head out to GMA's Lifestyle page.
Take a look at what went down during this year's Sinulog festivities below.