SILANG, Cavite — The local government and Catholic Church here successfully surpassed and set the new Guinness World Record of longest candlelight lit relay record of India of 621 on Sunday night, January 22.
The town obtained the record on its third attempt, which started at 7:30 p.m. and crossed candle bearer no. 367 at 10:10 in the evening.
Kheyglacy Pascual, staff member of Silang Municipal Social Welfare and Development, held the candle that successfully beat the previous mark of 366 set by India before the fire died much later, which Kazuyoshi Kirimura, official adjudicator of Guinness World Records, witnessed.
Mayor Kevin Anarna led the start of the candlelighting lit relay by lighting his candle at the image of Nuestra Señora De Candelaria right in front of the church door in Barangay Poblacion 2 here, followed by Vice Mayor Ted Carranza.
At the end of the program, Silang was declared the record breaker and was awarded a certificate by the Guinness World Record through Kirimura.
“At first I was discouraged, because 366 was the number to beat, then we needed to reach 367. On the first attempt, at 32 we already stopped, then on the second attempt, at 121, we stopped again,” Mayor Anarna said.
“In my mind, it looks like it would be difficult for us to cross the border of 367, but I was optimistic that with the 700 people who registered, we will get it (record), so when we passed the 367, I was very happy,” he added.
“I knew the wind was strong in front of the church, but with the help of the prayers of our countrymen, we succeeded and got the record of 621,” Mayor Anarna said.
“Our reason for winning is the dedication of the people and desire to record the name of Silang all over the world, and this is dedicated to our dear patrón Nuestra Señora de Candelaria or Our Lady of Candles,” he added.
“We really intended to make the first attempt at the Guinness World Record for candles because of our dear patron, to recognize Silang Town and increase tourism to our town,” the mayor said.
The town completed the attempt ahead of the Feast Day of Nuestra Senora de Candelaria on February 1 to 3, 2023. Dennis Abrina
