TRAVELS (and more) WITH CECILIA BRAINARD: The Philippine Parol Christmas Lantern

Thursday, December 11, 2014

The Philippine Parol Christmas Lantern - #Christmas

In the Philippines, when we were children, we used to make the Parol, or the star-shaped Christmas lantern, a traditional Filipino Christmas decoration. We used bamboo sticks and tissue-thin colored paper that we called Japanese paper.

Before Christmas trees, there were Christmas Star Lanterns in the Philippines.

The origin of the Parol goes back to the Manila-Acapulco galleon days when the Philippines and Mexico were linked via the trading route. The Parol is very much like the Mexican pinata. The lantern was created both to decorate and to light the way to Church for the early morning masses, the Misa de Aguinaldo from December 16 until the Misa de Gallo on Christmas Eve.

The Star-shape comes from the Nativity Story of the Star that shone above Bethlehem, leading the shepherds and the Three Wise Men to the Baby Jesus.

Now, Filipinos continue to have Parols, some simple, some more elaborate like the electrified ones made of capiz shells.

Read also
Christmas and the Nochebuena
Seymour and Christmas Jokes
Christmas Cards Versus E-Cards
Palm Tree Christmas Tree - Oh, My!

Tags: Christmas, Parol, lantern, Philippines, Filipino, Christmas Star
This is all for now,
Cecilia

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Cecilia Manguerra Brainard's official website is ceciliabrainarddotcom. She is the award-winning author and editor of 22 books, including When the Rainbow Goddess Wept, The Newspaper Widow, Magdalena, Selected Stories, Vigan and Other Stories, and more. She edited Growing Up Filipino 1, 2, & 3, Fiction by Filipinos in America, Contemporary Fiction by Filipinos in America, and other books.. Her work has been translated into Finnish and Turkish; and many of her stories and articles have been widely anthologized. Cecilia has received many awards, including a California Arts Council Fellowship in Fiction, a Brody Arts Fund Award, a Special Recognition Award for her work dealing with Asian American youths, as well as a Certificate of Recognition from the California State Senate, 21st District, and the Outstanding Individual Award from her birth city, Cebu, Philippines. She has lectured and performed at UCLA, USC, University of Connecticut, University of the Philippines, PEN, Shakespeare & Company in Paris, and many others. She has served in the Board of literary arts groups such as PEN, PAWWA (Pacific Asian American Writers West), among others.