Parol
The parol is a traditional part of the Panunulúyan pageant in the nine-day Christmas Novena procession during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines.
It is a local adaptation of the Hispanic tradition of carrying small light sources (like torches, candles, or braziers) during the nine-day Christmas Novena procession leading up to the midnight mass (called Simbang Gabi in the Philippines).
[5][9][10] They are particularly associated with the Panunulúyan pageant accompanying the procession, which is a reenactment of the search for lodgings by Joseph and the pregnant Virgin Mary in Bethlehem.
[4] This was followed by a choir and a band singing various versions of "Dios Te Salve" (local adaptations of "Ave Maria" with Spanish lyrics).
[5] Based on oral accounts, an artisan from Pampanga named Francisco Estanislao allegedly crafted the first five-pointed star-shaped paról in 1908.
The parol was used for the year's entry of Barangay Santa Lucia in the Giant Lantern Festival of San Fernando, Pampanga, which they subsequently won from 1957 to 1959.
[19][4] The farolitos (or luminarias) of New Mexico, which are paper lanterns that have the same function during the Las Posadas, are derived from the Filipino parol via the Manila galleons.
[25] They usually come in various sizes, from small, tinsel and foil lanterns to gigantic ones that are electrically lit at night, and may have one, three or more tails aside from the ubiquitous two.
The third layer is the palimbun (from the Kapampangan word limbun, meaning a Novena procession), a circular rim that surrounds the siku-siku.
Pampanga is also the origin of the first electric and battery-operated parols with automated rotor systems, known as parul sampernandu, which date back to the 1940s to 1960s.
[26] The traditional craft of lantern-making is usually taught to schoolchildren around Christmastime, but actual manufacture is now primarily done in the barrios and the poblacions and is rarely done in urban areas.
[30] A notable exception is San Fernando, Pampanga, which is considered "Home of the Giant Lanterns" for its million-peso lantern-making industry, as well as Las Piñas, a city in Metro Manila, where a lot of parols also originate.
[1] The parol also retains its original association with the Simbang Gabi ritual, a series of dawn masses that lasts for nine days.
[33] Since 2005, renowned artist, Fred DeAsis, offers free Parol Making Workshop to the Filipino community in the Chicago, Illinois area and adjacent states.
During the workshop, participants learn to make a traditional Filipino Christmas parol, originally designed by the artist, with the use of only 5 bamboo sticks, japanese paper, rubber bands, wire, glue and ornaments.
[34] In San Francisco and Los Angeles, California, Filipino Americans celebrate an annual Parol Festival in December.
