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98 THE THE LANTERNS LANTERNS OF OF SAN SAN FERN FERNANDO FERN ANDO AND AND ANGELES ANGELES Small and white, the dainty Angeles lanterns twinkle beside the supernovas which are the giant lanterns of San Fernando By Robby Tantingco and Arwin Paul Lingat Ivan Henares Giant Lantern Festival (above); lubenas processions featuring the white tailed lanterns of Angeles (left) and the multi-colored lanterns of San Fernando (left, bottom) The Ligligan Parul (lantern showdown) and its featured giant lanterns are not the only reason that the city has been called the Lantern Capital of the Philippines. There is a thriving lantern industry that has produced the distinctive parul sampernandu—not the giant variety, but the smaller version with the same dancing rainbow colors. According to lantern-maker Roland Quiambao, the lantern tradition probably began in the La Naval festivities in Bacolor and was acquired by next-door San Fernando either by osmosis or when the Lantern master Roland Quiambao provincial capital was transferred from Bacolor to San Fernando in 1904. At the time, lanterns were lit from inside by candlelight, and later by kalburu (sulfur compound), car battery and generator. The ligligan or contest most likely started around that time, among barangays, during their respective lubenas (lantern procession held December 16-24). The large lantern behind the lubenas’ carroza was the one in competition, not the 12 pairs of smaller lanterns than make up the main body of the procession. From December 16 to 22, residents scrimped by using only candles to light the lanterns; on the lubenas’ last two days, they went full blast by using electricity; on the 24 th (Christmas eve), lantern processions from competing barangays converged in the town square (not in the patio but in the basketball court between the Assumpta Building and Liberty Building) for the ligligan, which, at the time, was a contest of endurance: all the competing lan-
terns were simultaneously lit and played until their bulbs exploded or went dead; the lantern with the most number of remaining lit bulbs won. The competition lasted well until daybreak of Christmas day. The lanterns started assuming their gigantic proportions only in 1965, probably due to the competing barangays’ increasing prosperity, and of course, the Kapampangans’ natural tendency to overspend just to produce a thing of beauty. Acknowledged as the pioneer in modern lantern-making was Mario Datu of barrio Del Pilar; he is credited as the first to use iron framing for lanterns (previously they used bamboo frames) and for a more scientific mechanism to make the lights dance (previously they used only a kalakati, where one would run an iron rod against a row of nails). The rivals in the competition in those early days were Datu and Susing Maglalang of barrio San Jose. Later other names became by-words: Erning Diwa of Sta. Lucia; Emilio Dizon, Gregorio Miranda and a Mr. Santos of Del Pilar. A Mr. Linson was known for his dinukit a parul, or lanterns using paper cardboards and layers to give the impression of having been “carved.” It was Crising Valencia who invented the now-famous rotor system, in which a rotating cylinder (originally made of wood, then of copperplate, today of tin sheet covered with masking tape) is manually driven to make the lantern’s lights dance. A few years ago, a group was commissioned by the city government to computerize a giant lantern; the lantern-makers, however, have since returned to the more traditional method. The parts of a traditional San Fernando lantern are as follows: tambor (the lantern’s round middle part), siku-siku (the right-angled designs emanating from the center which give the lantern its distinctive star shape), palimbun (circular shapes on the outer rim) and puntetas (the rays of the lantern). If the San Fernando lantern dances and has psychedelic colors, the Angeles lantern is a dainty all-white star with a pair or dangling tails representing the rays of the Star of Bethlehem. The Top, the rotor system responsible for the giant lantern’s dancing lights, invented by a Kapampangan; above, the parts of a lantern tradition of lubenas in Angeles is stronger today than in San Fernando (but not quite as strong as in Mabalacat); Mariano Henson wrote that in 1830, when the first La Naval was held in Angeles, residents were already processing their lit lanterns around town. But while the lanterns of San Fernando grew in size by leaps and bounds, those in Angeles basically remained the same: small and white, with lacey cut-outs pasted on the star; they even retained the quaint fish lanterns with movable fin and tail—a vestige of the folksy past of lubenas when organizers had to use gimmicks to attract participants and impress observers. Only one person, Eulogio Catahan (a.k.a. Apung Eloy) of Brgy. Cutcut still makes fish lanterns (he also makes burarul and gurion, or kites), and only one family, in Brgy. San Nicolas, still makes the white lanterns which are unique to Angeles. Ivan Henares 99
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2 Photos top to bottom: 1. Angeles
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RECENT Abueva Monsod Albano Romero
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The Center for Kapampangan Studies
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Center, cable networks co-produce c
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The San Fernando town hall during t
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American Historical Collection Hal
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Servicio Historico Militar joins Ab
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This pre-1754 map shows no sign of
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Mariano Henson wrote that the origi
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20 A A 1911 1911 A CCOUNT CCOUNT OF
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22 These days, the cities of San Fe
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24 TIMELINE OF SAN FERNANDO HISTORY
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egories of personal cedulas and the
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San Fernando church in ruins after
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San Fernando Bridge, formerly Puent
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San Fernando suffered a near-fatal
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star in mainstream society and was
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contracts, not even by order of the
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1796 Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda
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The Pampangos transferred to its pr
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Fray Francis Musni/Convento de San
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Fort Stotsenburg, the precursor of
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Angeles Electric Corporation Doña
Page 48 and 49: Kapampangans played crucial roles i
Page 50 and 51: 50 TWO FUNERALS AND A WEDDING Funer
Page 52 and 53: which could seat more than ninety p
Page 54 and 55: The Early Principalia Since San Fer
Page 56 and 57: Hizon women in a 1976 pictorial org
Page 58: Children of Don Cristino Singian de
Page 61 and 62: Juan D. Nepomuceno with wife Teresa
Page 63 and 64: Dr. Jose Tayag and second wife Merc
Page 65 and 66: Rich landowner Sixto Timbol of Mexi
Page 67 and 68: ETYMOLOGY OF PLACENAMES IN SAN FERN
Page 69 and 70: Levi Panlilio Street in Sta. Lucia,
Page 71: ORIGIN OF PLACENAMES IN ANGELES Sal
Page 74 and 75: A wall of rampaging lahar in the Ab
Page 76 and 77: Pulúng Maragul is the place where
Page 78 and 79: 1881-1904: HOW SAN FERNANDO BECAME
Page 80 and 81: THE MOVABLE CAPITAL OF PAMPANGA Bac
Page 82 and 83: CITY CITY OF OF ANGELS ANGELS Resid
Page 84 and 85: The white and gold interior of the
Page 86 and 87: The interior of the Los Angeles de
Page 88 and 89: The US government used the Angeles
Page 90 and 91: On April 15, 1952, Kapampangans sta
Page 92 and 93: Kapampangans crowd around the repli
Page 94 and 95: 2. 2. The he Str Strang Str ang ang
Page 96 and 97: While the common folk flock to the
Page 100 and 101: The kalesa (calesa or carromata) or
Page 102 and 103: For or ort or t Stotsenb Stotsenbur
Page 104 and 105: In the years leading to 1991, Angel
Page 106 and 107: 106 GALLOPING ECONOMIES San Fernand
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Page 110 and 111: George Tapan Chito Madroño and Rey
Page 112 and 113: (Alex Castro) (Alex Castro) Louisa
Page 114 and 115: untings to celebrate her win. Vicen
Page 116 and 117: PLA PLAYGR PLA GR GROUNDS GR OUNDS
Page 118 and 119: Complete list of Gobernadorcillos (
Page 120 and 121: Catalino Henson 1879-1880 Mariano C
Page 122 and 123: Complete list of Gobernadorcillos (
Page 124 and 125: All too often we discard them when
Page 126 and 127: 126 Highway near San Fernando in th
Page 128 and 129: 128 p.25 Sugar land owners’ count
Page 130 and 131: The Santos-Hizon House (Ivan Henare
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