San Fernando is the birthplace of the Philippines' giant Christmas lantern and home to the annual Ligligan Parul (Giant Lantern Festival). Each lantern stands about 20 feet high and features 5,000 or so lights.
San Fernando isn't just famous for its giant lanterns. The city's smaller parul sampernandus lanterns vaulted to cottage-industry status in the 1960s when they moved away from classic designs in favor of more colorful creations inspired by everything from psychedelic kaleidoscopes to batik textiles.
A worker configures bulbs in the honeycomb-like frame of a 16-foot parol at the workshop of the doyen of San Fernando's parols - Ernesto 'Erning' David Quiwa.
Two of the smallest parols in Quiwa's workshop. Still way too big for your average Christmas tree!
An employee in Quiwa's workshop puts the finishing touches on a small parol ordered by a school in Manila. In the background is an unfinished 'rotor,' a steel drum that serves as the light switch on a giant parol.
A finished giant Christmas parol lights up the night sky at the annual Christmas festival in San Fernando. Polyvinyl plastic in a hodgepodge of colors usually covers a giant parol.
Angels, nativity signage, flower lanterns and other glowing Christmas decorations for sale at a San Fernando roadside shop.
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