Pahiyas: A Very Filipino Festival

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Every May 15th, the residents of Lucban, Quezon celebrate the Pahiyas (meaning "decor") Festival in honor of San Isidro Labrador, the patron saint of farmers. Thin rice wafers locally called "kiping" are made in varying colors and shaped like leaves to decorate the facades of houses along with farm harvests such as tomatoes, stringbeans, pineapples, cucumbers, sayote, coconuts, ferns, as well as agriculture-based products such as ropes, hats, bags, etc. Kipings come in festive colors like yellow, pink, red, orange and green. Creativity flourishes in this part of the country, especially during this one-day festival celebration in thanksgiving for bountiful harvests. Amazing how local folks are able to create chandeliers called 'aranyas' made of kiping and how one's family endeavor to work together to showcase the fruits of their harvests.


Pahiyas is a very Filipino festival , having began as a simple offering to the “anito” (pagan god) to invoke a bountiful harvest. Subsequently and over a century later, the Christianized Filipinos integrated these local practices with the Catholic faith, bringing their harvests to the Church for the priests to bless. Presently, many tourists and locals flock to this farming town by the slopes of Mount Banahaw, to celebrate the Pahiyas every May 15 with the locals.

The 3 Hour Southbound Trip To Lucban

Even after a good night's rest, I still feel so tired after yesterday's Pahiyas Festival. Been wanting and planning to do this trip each year for the last decade or so, but never got to go till yesterday. So there I was, uncomplaining, even if it meant waking up at 2 am. Come to think of it, 'waking up' is not exactly the appropriate term . Knowing I had to meet with my group at Starbucks in 6750 Makati and leave at exactly 3 am, I was so afraid to doze off and miss my tour. I once looked at my alarm clock the night before, set at 2am, and thought there's still a chance to manage 3 hours of sleep. Guess what. I kept looking at that watch every 20 minutes or so till it was time. 😞


On our way to Lucban, we had to make an unscheduled stop to check this whacking noise under the bus. It disturbed me so that I failed to catch up on my sleep on the 3 hour drive. Just the same, we reached Lucban around 6:30am just when the bands were starting to get ready to march. Early enough to be allowed to park nearer town, it was an easy walk to Cafe San Luis where we partook of a breakfast of Lucban Longganiza (local sausage), scrambled egg, tinapa (smoked fish) and garlic rice. I would have wanted my egg sunny side up and another piece of the tinapa, but it was too early to complain. Lol. :-)

The Town is Bursting With Colors!

After breakfast, I found a small group to walk around with. We took to the main street and headed for the Church, then easily found ourselves along streets with colourful Pahiyas decorations. My first time. And even after breakfast, I was thinking "Pancit HabHab (a local noodle dish), Hardinera ( a local meat loaf), and more Lucban Longganiza". I have to admit I remember a better-tasting, more crisply-fried (with minced pork bursting through the skins) lucban longganiza than the ones I had for breakfast. But that's fine. Just walking along these streets, you get enough longganizas to smell like one.


Some bigger houses or buildings were more extravagantly decorated. One building even had an interactive element where tourists can don the "anok" or scarecrow cape and scale the ladder. Another had strings of ropes or rice grains glued to ropes in festive colors hanging from the balconies, while the simpler ones were just as intricately decorated with farm harvests. I particularly liked one where a simple "parol" or star lantern was designed using tomatoes, cucumbers and stringbeans. The local folks open up their houses to visitors and strangers. You can find some of these tourists posing for photos from the balconies of these houses, as the residents are busy preparing their snack offerings. If you are lucky, you may even be invited to sample their meals and snacks.


How nice that the people of Lucban preserved this tradition all through the years. A family effort, they say, to showcase what each family's livelihood is. A way of offering thanks for their blessings. I will not even bother to complicate the reason for this festival --- it is simply, a celebration of gratitude for their blessings.


The only drawback here is the thick crowd and the heat which threatened to burn our shirts off our skins. If I were a sleep-starved, sweating zombie yesterday, I am an old hag today feeling every year of my age. A full day to "recover". I was out yesterday a full 20 hours. Too long for a day trip. Next time, I should go a day earlier, perhaps check out how the local folks string up those tomatoes, bananas and pineapples to decorate the fronts of their houses in all those lively colors. Then, coming back in the morning of the festival to check how the same houses have been transformed in time for the festival. Yes, that would be interesting. The "production stage" prior to the stage play. Next time. 😊

How To Get There

From Manila, take any of the regular commercial buses plying the 3 hourManila-Lucena route. Bus terminals are located along EDSA-Kamuning in Quezon City, Araneta Center in Cubao, Buendia-Taft Avenues and EDSA in Pasay City.

From Lucena: Upon arrival in Lucena Grand Central Terminal, take a Lucban bound jeep or mini bus. It’s just a 45 minute ride.

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