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| Lucban Church |
Every May 15, the streets in the small town of Lucban become congested with people from different areas of neighboring towns and cities to see the colorful festival of Pahiyas. Despite the lack of sleep, I went to Lucban with my friend and his daughter for a whole day of walking and taking pictures under the heat of the unmerciful sun.
It is my second time to join the pilgrimage to this town nesting at the foot of Mt. Banahaw to join in the celebration of the bounty harvest of our farmers. The Pahiyas Festival is also a thanksgiving to San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers. All the houses and businesses (even funeral parlors!) in the selected streets for Pahiyas are decorated with colorful kiping. It is shaped like a leaf and is made of rice paste. Some locals do not use the leaf-shaped kiping as decoration though. They crush it, the kiping looking like crushed egg shells, then glue it to their walls and ceilings for added texture.
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A Two-Storey House Decorated with
Crushed Kiping from the Ground Up |
The Pahiyas Festival lasts for almost half a month, starting in the first days of May and culminating in the Grand Parade in May 15. A lot of activities were lined up in this year's Pahiyas, including Mutya ng Lucban, Ginoong Lucban, Gayak Carosa Float Parade, where the carriages pulled by carabaos are decorated with the agricultural products of farmers, and some Philippine games. Too bad I was not able to watch them, but all winners and runner-ups in the competitions held were part of the Grand Parade we saw.
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| The small streets of Lucban were filled with thousands of visitors to join in the celebration. |
There were more people this year than last year, I think. Los Banos being relatively near Lucban, we saw quite a number of friends and acquaintances from LB. We also saw a celebrity eating pancit habhab. He was apologetic for eating it in a plate instead of the traditional way of putting the pancit in one's mouth. It is best eaten with vinegar.
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| Only in Lucban: Pancit Habhab |
What I like best in this festival is the cultural authenticity of it. Unlike other festivals, Pahiyas is rooted in our agricultural culture and the locals are the ones who initiated it. In this festival, the farmers are given recognition due to them. The locals participate actively in the activities: farmers parade with their carabaos (my favorite part); local designers create colorful gowns and barong made from local materials like banig. Although there were also big companies sponsoring the event, the local government make it a point that the Pahiyas does not become their sponsors' festival.
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A Farmer's Best Friend
Photo taken during the Grand Parade |
What makes Pahiyas also memorable is the warm hospitality of the locals. They allow strangers to enter their home just so they can take their pictures. They invite strangers to eat and drink lambanog, the local drink made from coconut, even if it's only 9 o'clock in the morning. It is here where I experienced the famed Filipino hospitality during fiesta. Aside from the lambanog shots, we even spent an afternoon siesta in a local's living room and almost took a bath in their house, with its ice-cold water coming from Mt. Banahaw, to counter the afternoon heat.
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| My Lakwatcha Buddies Inside a Local's Home |
The only problem we encountered is transportation going home. We decided to leave Lucban at around 7pm. We thought it was still early, but there were no jeepneys. There was a long line of passengers. We waited for at least an hour before we were able to ride a jeepney (we called it the Busney because it's bigger than the usual jeepney, almost the size of a mini-bus). When we arrived in Sta. Cruz, Laguna, it was almost 10 pm. Together with many other passengers, we had to wait again for a jeepney going to Calamba, Crossing. And because we did not want to ride in the jeepneys with drivers and dispatchers who took advantage of the situation and suddenly increased the fare, we waited longer than the other passengers. When we arrived in LB, we had to wait again for a jeepney.
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| The Most Photographed House |
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| The Most Colorful House |
Although there was a lot of waiting before we could go home, it was a lot of fun. We ate, talked, walked around. We almost rode in a Ferris Wheel and Octopus that could take away our lives while we were waiting in Sta. Cruz, but we thought we'll die another day. And see another Pahiyas next year.
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