Pahiyas Blog

15% Early Bird Discount Promo ends on January 31

Save 15% for the the Pahiyas Festival Day Tour 2012 Package rate.  Reserve now and confirm your reservation until January 31 and pay only Php 1,530.00.

You can even choose your desired seat, guaranteed.

So what are you waiting for?  Join the Pahiyas Day Tour and witness the Philippines’ most colorful summer festival for only Php 1,530.

Visit Pahiyasfestival.com to reserve and for more details.

Join the Pahiyas Festival Day Tour 2012

Now on its 3rd year, pahiyasfestival.com once again offers a tour of the Philippines most colorful summer festival, the Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival.

Though the festival on May 15, 2012 falls on a Tuesday, there are so much things to do and see during the Pahiyas:
a.  Roam around Lucban, watched and be amazed by the colorful decorations of kiping and other agricultural product and handicrafts of Lucban.
b.  Shop at the Tiyangge for souvenirs, handicrafts, food and plants.
c.  Dine in our included lunch-buffet of delectable Lucban foods like Pansit Lucban, Lucban longganisa, pinangat, hardinera, embotido and dinner of seafoods and inihaw.
d.  Watch and enjoy the grand parade of floats decorated with fruits, vegetables and other indigenous materials, carabao, native costumes, higantes, street dancing and marching bands.

As early as December, we have been accepting reservations at discounted rates for early birds:
December – 20% discount
January 1-31 – 15% discount
February 1-29 – 10% discount
March 1-31 – 5% discount

And if you confirm your reservation earlier, you can choose the best seat for more comfortable trip to Lucban (which would take about 3-4 hours during the festival day).

Join the Pahiyas Day Tour, make your reservations now and save more!

Visit pahiyasfestival.com for more info and reservation.

Why the Pahiyas Festival should be ran by private citizens of Lucban instead of the local government?

Though the polling shows that an overwhelming majority is not in favor of the Pahiyas being ran by private Lucbanins, (28 against, 20 in favor and 2 undecided), the people of Lucban has all the rights and capabilities to make this annual event a success.

Consider the following facts, enough reasons that the Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival should be managed by the people of Lucban and not by the local government:

1.  The Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival is a Catholic church festivities honoring San Isidro.  The festival is being ran by local government officials who are mostly non-Catholics.  This being the case, the Catholic church is being bypassed and not even consulted or involved in the planning and implementation of the festival.  The only time the church authorities are informed, is when the Pahiyas Execom needs the route of the next year’s procession of San Isidro.  Just the title alone that the local government is boasting of, is stripped, most of the time of the word “San Isidro”, which is in fact should be its original title “San Isidro Festival” or just plain “San Isidro”.

2.  Historically and originally, the festival was ran by private individuals and organizations led by the Art Club of Lucban.  Events like singing contest, trade fair, basketball tournament and other cultural and civic activities are all planned, organized, funded and executed successfully by the people of Lucban without or with meager support from the local government of Lucban.  Have you read a single historical account about this part of the Pahiyas in the past?  No, because the government, who provides the history through the Lucban Historical Society is biased towards the government as they have contributed nothing to the development and popularity of the Pahiyas when it was just starting to grow.  So it is but logical (as it is also embarassing) not to mention this part of the Pahiyas history, now that the Pahiyas is so popular, and all the credit goes to the Pahiyas Executive Committee and the local government of Lucban but in reality, they contributed nothing or little to its development.

3.  In the past, what the local government do, is only to collate all the events by these different private organizations and consolidate them into one umbrella program for the Pahiyas Festival, making it appear that it is the government who do the organizing and planning but in reality it is not.  But as time passed by, these events are being copied and implemented by the local government of Lucban thus easing out the private organizers.  The next thing you know, the organizer is already out of the Pahiyas activities.  If you will notice at the recent events of the Pahiyas and a few years back – no private organization is involved in any activities related to the festival.

… to be continued

my pahiyas experience

I have been involve with the Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival when I was still a little boy.  My parents, particularly my father, who started the festival, has countless things to do when May 15 gets near as he was one of the men behind many activities that spice up the Pahiyas, some or most of which were copied, grabbed by the Pahiyas Execom and still being practiced today.  And being the eldest, I am always with him wherever he goes, doing errands.

When I was in high school, we formed “Youth in Action”, a youth organization consisting of high school students and elementary pupils from the many different schools in Lucban.  Our group was formed to become an entry to the 1st Magnolia Youth Achievers Award, a competition of young people’s organization who could make a difference, an impact towards a positive change in the community through various projects and activities.  We won the third prize in the Southern Tagalog region.

One of our projects was the co-organization of the Pahiyas Festival.  As co-organizer, the Lucban municipal government has given the group all the hand in the planning, organization and execution of major events and activities leading to the celebration of the festival.  Our group was given a freehand to handle all the aspects of the festival with prior consultation and approval of the local government.

Being the group’s president, I was able to do many things for the festival, first hand and on my own – communicating and dealing with sponsors, collating other organization’s activities for the Pahiyas, attending meetings with the municipal committee on the Pahiyas and many other things that concerns the group and the festival.

As I grew up, many changes have occured, not just in my life but even to Lucban and in the celebration of the Pahiyas Festival where I am deeply rooted.  The Pahiyas was slowly becoming not a traditional and religious festivity anymore but more of a circus of commercialism.

These days, there’s no public area in Lucban that is clear of buntings, streamers and tarpulin banners of many major companies sponsoring the Pahiyas.  Even the highways outside of Lucban, where trees, farms and nature are a sight to behold, are obstructed with marketing paraphernalia of these companies, who are taking all the chances and opportunities they could get to recoup the huge amounts for sponsorship they have paid to the local government of Lucban, the committee organizing, or merely supervising the Pahiyas.

Large companies, the ones who usually become the major sponsor that pays about a million of sponsorship money, also steals the limelight during the festival day itself.  They bring in large contingents of performers and popular actors and actresses from Manila to woo the public into patronizing their products.  Tolerated by the municipal government, Lucbanin cultural groups like dancers, singers and rondalya ensemble are given only minutile chance of showing the talent, culture and tradition of Lucban that should be the only program being shown during the festival as a showcase of our town to the many local and foreign tourists attending the festival.

One of the many frustrations I had concerning the Pahiyas is the banning of the Pahiyas Execom of our higantes.  The higantes has long been a tradition, had been parading during the Pahiyas for about 2 decades, spanning 4 mayors at the helm and long been in the Pahiyas even before the current mayor and municipal councils and officers of Pahiyas Execom took control of all the affairs of the Pahiyas.  For more than 6 years now, the Execom has banned the participation of the higantes in the festival as I am considered a rebel, who fight against the present municipal administration.

Be it as it may, I just accept them as my fate and believes that there are better things waiting for me.  Anyway, there are laws for everybody and one thing that we can not get out, whatever our status in lives are,  is the law of karma, where one gets punished in one way or another for any misery and anguish he has caused to his fellow human being.

pahiyasfestival.com is now on facebook

PahiyasFestival.com has debuted in Facebook, one of the world’s top social networking sites. News, announcements, current events, photos and information about Lucban and the Lucban San Isidro PahiyasFestival.com can now be accessed even without leaving Facebook.

Other Lucbanins have also posted pages and events about our famed Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival.

Be a fan now and experience the sights and colors of the Pahiyas in Facebook!

where are the new traffic aides?

Every Monday, a flag raising ceremony is always held by the mayor, sangguniang bayan and municipal employees of the local government of Lucban at the Rizal Park, fronting the municipyo (government building).  Today, April 13, a new group of uniformed personnel joined the ceremony, lined up between the police force and the fire brigade.

Wearing yellow polo shirt and black pants with a white stripe on the sides, they are Lucban’s new traffic aides.  Numbering 20 males, they passed the traffic and road safety training held last April which I wrote about whistling,disturbing me from my sleep during an early Saturday morning.

But after the ceremony, they should be on their designated posts but as I noticed, not a single one was manning the intersection adjacent to the munisipyo and the Rizal Park where traffic congestion is occuring most of the time.

And when the Tour of Luzon, where packs of speeding cyclists and tour vehicles passed by the town, confusion and near accident rules the busiest intersection in town.  Unmindful of the incoming cyclists, vehicles do not know where to go and keep on crossing the street even the sound of siren gets nearer and nearer.

At this early, the traffic aides seems to be getting into nowhere and the funds thrown in to them are, literally, being thrown away.  This is the second time, after the formation of traffic aides, that they are proving to be useless.  There were already too much traffic congestion during the Holy Week last week as pilgrims to Kamay ni Hesus and returning Lucbanins jampacked the narrow streets of Lucban but not a single traffic personnel was controlling the situation.

What more can these men do when the Lucban San Isidro Pahiyas Festival gets nearer or even during the festival day itself?  The festival falls on a Friday so expect heavy traffic of men and vehicles.  Better yet, get to Lucban early before you get stucked somewhere down the road.

easter midnight mass and the “salubong”

Holy Week in Lucban has just been concluded with a joyous and spectacular celebration as we commemorate the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Black Saturday rites started with the blessing of the fire held at the basketball court.  A procession then followed going to the church with no lights on except the candles held by devotees.  Total blackout engulfed the church as candle lights were put off prior to the start of the reading of the Gospel and singing of the Psalms which was led by the wonderful voices of the Canticle Choir.  As the “Gloria” is being sung, all lights were turned on while the image of the Risen Christ, carried by lay ministers, entered dramatically from behind the backside of the church.

The traditional “Salubong” was likewise extra-ordinary.  A little angel, played by a little boy threw petals as he slided in a rope, suspended in the air, towards the platform where the other angels are singing “Allelujia”.  Fireworks added excitement to the joyful feast.

[Show as slideshow]

Blessing of the fire

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Flying Angel"

 

good friday in lucban

Lucban is richly blessed with traditions and Holy Week is one attestation.  Lucbanins, local tourists, some are foreigners, photographers and vacationists flood Lucban during Good Friday to witness unique traditions that Lucban is known and can be proud of.

Becoming famous is the procession of the Mahal na Señor (Santo Sepulcro/Dead Christ), proof of which is the participation of some non-Lucbanins, where men walk barefooted as they pull the ropes carrying the carriage of the Señor, the manner of which similar to the Black Nazarene of Quiapo in Manila.

Mahal na Senor

Also worth seeing are the images of saints depicting the various events in the passion until the death of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Devotees also lined up to kiss and venerate the Cross, another tradition that has never ceased to exist.

According to church authorities, this year’s Good Friday was most attended compared to last year’s.  The church is full during the Good Friday ritual and the procession was likewise participated by more people lining up not only the sides but even the center of the streets.

[Show as slideshow]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12►

tshirt printing of image of jesus

ang mahal na señor

This article is an excerpt from the book “Kasaysayan at Tala ng Bayan ng Lucban, Quezon” written by Pantaleon Nantes (+) and published in 1952.  The author narrated a significant part of the history of Lucban about the Mahal na Senor or the image of the dead Christ, how it ended up in a pawnshop in Manila causing many illnesses to the townspeople and the ownership that was fought all the way to the Corte Suprema (Supreme Court) between the original owners led by the Lukban-Villasenor Clan and the present owners, the Rañola clan.  It happened in 1892.

Mahal na Senor

Pagkamatay ni Kapitan Saturnino Rilles y Cristobal, ay naiwan ang lahat ng kaniyang pag-aari at ari-arian, kasama na dito ang Santo Sepulcro o Mahal na Señor, sa kaniyang mga anak na sina Geronimo Rilles, binata; Andrea Rilles, napangasawa ni Miguel de San Agustin, ina at ama ng magkakapatid na sina Heneral Vicente Lukban, Dr. Justo Lukcban, Juez Caytano Lukban at iba pa; at Saturnina (Nining) Rilles, napangasawa ni Esteban Villaseñor, ama ng parmaseutiko Liborio Villaseñor at ni Ismael Villaseñor, gumuhit at yumari niyang bantayog ni Dr. Jose Rizal sa tapat ng Bahay Pamahalaang Bayan. (Nang umalis dito at lumipat sa Daet, Camarines Norte and buong mag-anak ng Miguel de San Agustin at Andrea Rilles, ay nagpalit ng apelyido at ginawang Lukban, bilang alaala nila sa bayang kanilang sinilangan.) Dahil sa isang mahigpit na pangangailangan ni G. Geronimo Rilles, ay dinala niya sa Maynila ang Santo Sepulcro at kaniyang isinanla sa isang mayamang mag-aalahas na si G. Cirilo David, sa daang San Pedro (ngayon ay daang Evangelista), sa halagang pitungdaang piso (P700.00).

Read more..