Pahiyas Festival

Start:	May 14, '09
End:	May 15, '09
Location:	Lucban, Quezon, Philippines

Pahiyas Festival is a colorful feast celebrated every 15th of May by the people of Lucban, Quezon in honor of San Isidro Labrador. This is the farmers' thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest which has been popularized by the grand display of colorful rice wafers, fruits, vegetables, and handicrafts adorning every houses in the town.

History

The festival was named after the Filipino terms hiyas (jewel) and pahiyas (precious offering). This feast is an ancient farmers' harvest celebration that dates back in 16th century. According to the legend, San Isidro Labrador magically plowed the field whenever he goes out of the church. This is the story that the Spaniards passed on to the Philippines from Mexico during their colonial period. Since then, the Pahiyas Festival has been a source of excitement for the locals and visitors of Quezon Province.

The Festival

The festival is highlighted by a procession along the streets of the image of San Isidro Labrador across the town to ensure the bountiful harvest of the people in the following seasons. The procession features a pair of giant papier mâché of a farmer and his wife. This is followed by the image of the patron saint and his wife Sta. Maria de la Cabeza. The image of Sta. Maria de la Cabeza carries a basket with triangulo biscuits, which are given to the children during the procession. This culminates with generous sharing of overflowing foods among the townspeople.

All the locals' houses are decorated with agricultural harvest (fruits, vegetables, rice grains, rice stalks, flowers, and ferns) and colorful rice wafers, called kiping. These thinly made rice dough are usually made into two or three layers of chandeliers called aranya. The locals use different kinds of leaves to add flavor and color to the kiping. They have also produced varieties of tastes and textures by using different ingredients such as kabal, coffee, talisay (umbrella tree), cocoa, and banaba leaves.

Each house tries to outdo each other in terms of the decoration of their house through an annual competition as they vie for the honor of being recognized for their creativity. After the competition is over and the awards are handed over to the owner of the winning house, the decorations of the house will be thrown away to the huge flock of people as free treats. For the other houses, after the festival, those kipings that were used to decorate these houses are cooked and eaten as rice chips. Also during the festival, the people display their harvest in front of their homes so that the parish priest could bless them as the procession passes their homes.