Giant Lantern Festival 2009

The Giant Lantern Festival, or Ligligan Parul, is the Christmas festival of the City of San Fernando, Pampanga, where barangays compete with giant lanterns covered in thousands of dancing lights. San Fernando’s lantern-making tradition is why the city is called the Christmas Capital of the Philippines. The giant lanterns, or parul, are the pride of Kapampangan craftsmen – huge, intricate creations whose patterns of light flash and change in time with music. The festival, held in December, is one of the most anticipated Christmas events in the country. The photographs in this post are from the Giant Lantern Festival 2009 in San Fernando, Pampanga, shot during that year’s December festival.

For a more recent edition, see our post on the Giant Lantern Festival 2016 Winners.