San Fernando—The Giant Lantern Festival Foundation Inc. (GLFFI) called off this year’s traditional Christmas competition and will instead hold an exhibition due to the nine-month long public health crisis on the coronavirus in the country.
The exhibition will stage 10 of the 12 contestants from last year on December 19 at the newly renovated Robinsons Starmall in the city.
The 12 participants last year are the villages of Del Pilar, San Pedro, Bulaon, San Juan, Sta. Lucia, Telebastagan, San Jose, Sundalan, San Nicolas, San Agustin, Calulut, and Sto. Nino.
San Fernando Mayor Edwin D. Santiago said the exhibit aims to give people a little happiness and hope during the holiday season in the midst of anxiety, depression and uncertainty brought by the pandemic.
“Although we don’t know how and when the crisis will end, we are still holding the exhibition to elevate morale and spirit of the people even only during holiday season only,” Santiago said.
He said the city is now in the middle of a balancing act by maintaining the health of the residents and managing the local economy to ensure the employment of people and generate the much-needed income for public service.
The city now has 126 coronavirus cases housed at the health facility at the government center in barangay Del Rosario, with five fatalities so far, Santiago said.
Alfrito Mah, president of the Giant Lantern Festival Foundation, said the cancellation was due to the ongoing health crisis that prohibits the gathering of people in any area and may cause the transmission from people to people of the deadly and contagious COVID-19 disease.
Mah added that the foundation values first the health and safety of the people.
He stressed that health protocols like physical distancing, mask wearing, face shield and other measures will be implemented during the exhibit.
The participating villages will receive the same limited financial assistance from the foundation and city government for the repair and dressing of their lanterns for the occasion, which Mah said is perhaps the most subdued exhibition of the 116-year old cultural tradition of the city.
Since 1904, after the capital of Pampanga was transferred from Bacolor to San Fernando, the annual giant lantern festival had earned the city the moniker as the Christmas capital of the Philippines.
Before the start of the festival, a weeklong novena is held in barangays that will culminate in the much-awaited giant lantern festival, which is one of the main tourist attractions of the city. The other one is the crucifixion of a volunteer held every Holy Week.
Usually, every third week of December, local and foreign tourists converge to delight in the giant lanterns, measuring about 10 to 15 feet in height with their multi-color bulbs “dancing” to music, mostly Christmas songs.
During the competition, several balikbayan savor their puto bumbong (rice cake) with matching lemon grass tea, while children watch the bands playing Christmas songs.
However, the coronavirus pandemic has wrought havoc to the world, changing how people live, increasing cases, fatalities, mental illness, and damages to the world economy, Santiago said.