Lay witness to my so-called fundamental existence.

At this time of the year, the kiping takes centerstage and becomes the gem of the land. The flat paper-thin multi-colored decoration that is the kiping, which is made from rice starch, beautifully covers each house or building that participates in the Pahiyas for a prize and honor.

Pahiyas is a colorful festival that happens every 15th of May with houses adorned with the products of the land and decorated with colorful kipings that turned the whole of Lucban into a colorful and festive tourist-drawing town.

Bro Bear and I, along with a few friends, travelled from Manila down to Lucban for the Pahiyas.  Taking the South Expressway and exiting at Calamba City, the town of Lucban (in the province of Quezon) is but at least 3 hours from Manila.  To reach Lucban, we passed by the university town of Los Baños, the spring-laden town of Pila and the duck-raising township of Victoria. We reached the historic Pagsanjan a little past 9am.

The group decided to have a quick break from the road trip and searched for the quaint little snack house that is Aling Taleng’s Halo-halo at General Luna Street. Pagsanjan boasts of it’s historic and old spanish arch, its massive centuries old church, it’s famed rapids and the Magdapio falls, and of course, Aling Taleng’s Halo-halo. Much rave has been received on the delicious concoction of fruits,beans and macapuno on ice shavings and fresh milk.

From Pagsanjan, I drove through the town of Cavinti and reached Lucban, passing through the narrow streets which were already filled with revelers and tourists. We hurriedly searched for place to park the van. A lot of the vehicles were already parked on both sides of the streets save for those narrow roads near the church where parking was not allowed. We managed to park the van inside a covered court, several hundred meters away from the decorated houses.

Tourists who came in buses walked in droves towards the major streets of Lucban. The kiping-decorated houses were found either parallel to or trasverse with Quezon Ave. At almost midday, the sun in Lucban was not at all that hot compared to the heat in Manila or elsewhere. The major streets were also covered with buntings. The town itself is found at the foot of Mt. Banahaw, which gave it a relatively cooler atmosphere than the capital.

Walking towards the church, we saw displays of pork sausage or the Lucban longganisa and some local spirits, the lambanog which were placed in jars and woven basketcases. These displays led us to several street corners where rows of houses hung traditional kiping chandeliers.

We saw the staple kiping decoration which is the arangya. It is in a form of a chandelier, with at least 3 circular concentric layers in different colors. The rice-starch decoration were also reflected in houses, several blocks away.

It’s fun to see people stop at each house to have their pictures taken or that of the decorated houses. Lucban was like a huge eye candy, colors were vibrant and very much bright. The town was like a huge dreamland where the goeths, melancholy and depression seemed to be inexistent.

Looking at the colorful houses makes one forget about the daily worries. It even makes one forget how hot the midday sun should be. You see people basically enjoying the Pahiyas. Charged with excitement and anticipating their photo ops obective, people were bewildered or the least amazed at how the people of Lucban could be creative.

The kiping itself could take the form of a flower,  an animal or a chandelier. Aside from kiping, houses are also adorned with vegetables and fruits. Some were decorated with colorful abaca ropes, other houses were covered with hand-woven baskets.

The food vendors complement the festive scene. Aside from the longganisa and lambanog, Lucban is also known for the lady fingers or broas and the pancit hab-hab. Lita may be smiling widely. People were caught in fright when she screamed “PANSSSIIIT” like a banshee.

We continued on. The narrow streets of Lucban reflected how the place used to be an old Spanish settlement. It is anchored by the massive baroque church, L’eglise de Saint Louis de Toulouse. There are also quite a few old structures in the town such as La Casa de Doña Ana (Madame Ana’s House) along Quezon Ave.

The narrow streets made me imagine how horse-drawn carriages and carabao-pulled carts used to pass through stone houses and all. Centuries had passed, Lucban still put importance to agriculture. The town would always give gratitude to the patron saint of harvest, San Isidro Labrador.

The practice of giving thanks for a wonderful harvest pre-dates the establishment of the spanish pueblo of what is now Lucban. The early settlers turned to their anitos and thanked them for providing great farm produce. They would gather for a wonderful feast and share food with one another.

With the advent of the Spanish colonizers armed with the sword of Catholicism and the subsequent conversion to christianity, the people of Lucban gathered in the Church of St. Louis of Toulouse and brought their harvest so that the priest would bless the gifts from their farms. The priests incorporate the giving of thanks to St. Isidore.

People of Lucban would tell you how the word PAHIYAS  came to be. A quick guess would lead us to think it came from the root word HIYAS which in Filipino means JEWEL or GEM. It could be relevant since the decorated houses were like precious sparkles in an otherwise green and simple town.  Pahiyas was derived from the local term PAYAS which more or less means decoration or to decorate.

A local organization in the 1960′s decided to formalize and put structure to the annual thanksgiving activity. The efforts had lead to the present-day celebration of the bounty of the land. Originally known as the San Isidro Festival, the Pahiyas has grown to become one of the most anticipated festival in the Philippines.

The decorated houses were sights to behold. People marvelled on the local’s creative flair.

Revelers stayed on. Deep into the afternoon, people would wait for the parade or the religious procession to start. The image of San Isidro and his wife were paraded on the streets of Lucban amidst shouts and festive shrills. The procession marked the highlight of the Pahiyas where people would rush to the decorated house to strip or  ”Kalas” the kipings, the vegetables and fruits as the homeowners would try to stop the people from doing so.

We left Lucban before the parade began to roll. For me it’s already a great feat to have witnessed and seen the jewels of Lucban. Pahiyas had decorated Lucban as beautiful as the aranyas of kiping in every native house.