Every December, the City of San Fernando in Pampanga lives up to its title as the Christmas Capital of the Philippines with the Giant Lantern Festival, or Ligligan Parul. The 2012 edition once again pitted the city’s barangays against each other with giant lanterns around 20 feet across, each lit by thousands of bulbs sequenced by a rotor — giant steel cylinders wrapped with cable that the lantern makers turn by hand to dance the lights to music. The festival traces its roots to the early 1900s, when simple lantern processions grew into today’s world-famous spectacle. These photos are from the Giant Lantern Festival of December 2012.
See also: Giant Lantern Festival 2016
Ligligan Parul
City of San Fernando
Grand Champion – Brgy. Del Pilar
1st Runner Up – Brgy. Telabastagan
2nd Runner Up – Brgy. San Jose
