PR-025-2021
15 November 2021

Philippine Consulate, Pinoy students relive “parol” tradition

The Philippine Consulate General in Melbourne, joined by Filipino students representing the Filipino Students Council of Victoria (FASTCO), relived the Filipino “parol” (lantern)-making tradition last Friday, November 12. This was an offshoot of the celebration of the Giant Lantern Festival of Pampanga province in the Philippines.

The Giant Lantern Festival is one of several Filipino festivals featured in Fiesta Filipinas, a series of online events to promote Philippine culture and tourism globally, even as countries struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fiesta Filipinas is a joint cultural diplomacy initiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, the Department of Tourism, and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

The FASTCO members, along with Consul General Maria Lourdes Salcedo and other Consulate employees, sat down in a workshop to craft their own mini-parols made of basic materials from a kit provided by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

In her introductory remarks, Consul General Salcedo spoke of the prominent role of the parol in celebrating Christmas in the Philippines and the Filipino cultural heritage in general.

Deputy Consul General Anthony Mandap, whose family hails from Pampanga, the parol-making capital of the Philippines, taught the students the finer points of making the lanterns, especially the delicate part of crafting the buntot (tail).

The series of photos shows the students and Consulate staff hard at work making their parols, then proudly displaying them afterwards.

The FASTCO students were led by current and immediate past presidents Kimberly Mitchiko Clemencio and Dennis Sumaylo, respectively.

The tiny, colorful lanterns currently adorn the Consulate premises during this festive season.

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