Pahiyas Festival
Philippines is known and famous because we Filipinos are happy people. We always have celebrations and it’s part of our cultures and traditions. There are so many festivities here in our country. Some of them are Sinulog festival in Cebu, also known as Santo Niño Festival, which was held on 3rd day of January, it lasts for nine days having lively street parties and parades, Masskara Festival which was held every 4th Sunday of October in Bacolod. It is also known as “Festival of Smiles” because of the masks that people wear. It also has costumes and parades just lie the Sinulog Festival. It can be considered as the Philippines’ Most Colorful Festival. Another one is Kadayawan Festival, it was held at the City of Davao every month of August. It was a thanksgiving event for the gifts of life and nature. It’s highlight is street dancing.
Above all that festivals I mentioned, I can say that I really love the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon. It’s just because I’ve experienced going there for several times. This celebration is thanksgiving harvest festival to honor Saint Isidore the Laborer, patron Saint of farmers. Held every 15th of May, townsfolk of Lucban, Quezon don their houses with lots of fruits, vegetables, palays and “suman” (a sweet delicacy made from glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves), an kiping (colorful leaf-shaped wafer made of rice and dyed with food coloring, you can eat it by frying or grilling, it’s very crispy).
Almost all houses are full of “payas” or decorations, everyone give much time to make their houses more attractive and colorful because there’s a price for the best ones.
There are so many from different places who visits Quezon Province. Some are celebrities, some are locals from nearby towns, there are also foreigners who are amazed by the colorful and beautiful decorations. Many of them took photos for souvenirs and post it on Facebook and Instagram accounts. There are lots of local sellers of snack like pancit habhab, the famous pancit in Lucban, it was put on piece of banana leaf and the way of eating is to “habhab” basically where the name came from, cassava cake or budin, nilipak and many others. If they decided to go home, there are so many stuffs to buy as pasulobong like the longganisang lucban, (so delicious with garlic flavor) pinagong, otap, kamatchile, and other kinds of bread.
Not only in Lucban, Quezon, Pahiyas is celebrated also in nearby provinces like Sariaya and Tayabas. In Sariaya, when you are travelling in 4th of May, you can see those decorations along the main road, that is how they celebrate it. In Tayabas, starting 1st of May up to 13th, people gather every night at the plaza where Local Government prepared entertaining shows like some local bands, comedy shows and sometimes they ask for some celebrities to make people happy. There is also many food stalls where you can buy foods you want while watching the perfomances, alcoholic beverages are also available for more fun. Few houses have their decorations but most of the locals have lots of suman, rice, fruits and vegetables. The celebration there starts when the replica of Saint Isidore began to parade , many people follow the parade and the locals throw away their products, it is called “agawan” or “hagisan”. Everyone have his bags or plastics, parade will follow parade goes around the whole area that’s why when it’s done, people who joined got a lot of stuffs. How happy that experience was! Though everybody is tired of joining the parade, you can see the evident happiness in everyone’s face.
At night, there are some programs like Amateur Singing Contest, parlor games and there are also some local bands performing. It was a party all day and night. Very enjoyable and unforgettable experience will remain in your heart upon leaving the place. You will say to yourself, I will come back in this beautiful and happy place .
