A few weeks ago we went to PASACAT's Parol Festival and this time, it was held at the Jacobs Center in Chollas View rather than Saint Rita's Auditorium where it's been held for at least ten years. I loved the multicultural banners. "Taloga" is like "Aloha" in Samoan.
The Jacobs Center is huuge and brand spanking new. Very nice set up. I hope all Parol Festivals are held here from now on!
There's also a bridge that leads to another area with room for public performances as well as eateries. There was a Cold Stone there.
A "parol" is a star shaped lantern made out of bamboo strips and covered traditionally with Japanese tissue paper. The star symbolized the one that led the Three Wise Men to Jesus Christ. It's a Christmas symbol for many Filipinos. If you see a parol lantern in the window or hanging outside, chances are, a Filipino lives in that house.
The way the Jacobs Center is set up is that there's a stage with seats in a semi circle. In the back are several areas divided into rooms. One was the "green room" where the performs do their costume changes, put on makeup and stay between dances. Another workshop room help tables with materials on how to make parols (for a $10 fee). There were spaces set aside for vendors as well (Cakey Pops, 2 t-shirt vendors, and a woman selling purses). Along with all that, they had a display table featuring the different regions of the Philippines with clothing and accesory samples as well as instruments and books and such.
Here's the entrance...loved the painted concrete! So vibrant!
Here are the benefactors of the center, Joe and Vi Jacobs - this photo collage was made up of tiny photographs. Not sure if these people are dead or still alive.
As you walk in, there are multicultural welcome banners hanging from the ceiling.
The stage....The parol there didn't have the tails attached yet. This parol is 6 feet tall. Bert helped make the tails for this.
Oops, a blurry photo of a capiz parol (capiz are those thin white shells). These are expensive and come from the Philippines. A parol this size would cost at least $200.
PASACAT was also selling books about Philippine culture. There was a doll set of a man holding a parol and a woman holding a baby. Traditional Philippine fabric was also being sold a few tables down along with Barong Tagalog shirts for the men and kimonas (sheer butterfly sleeves blouses) for women. Think of the sleeves on those Imelda Marcos' dresses (which are called '
ternos'), those are butterfly sleeves.
These were cute, but impractical. This is a plug in parol for your car. You plug it in where the cigarette lighter and and hang it from your mirror. The thing is that you would be able to see the ugly wire. Not a great idea after all.
These are toys tied on a string on what is called the "
pabitin". This is a square bamboo trellis that is lowered up and down, much like the Mexican pinata. At the end of the day's performance, the younger children were invited to go beneath the pabitin to try to snatch a toy as it was raised and lowered. Uh, can you say "Chaos"? A lot of the little kids were impatient and were already trying to grab the shit before it even started!
Joe Lagula of the company Lagula Beach was there. His three star and sun shirts were there in all color combos. Only $5 dude! His shirts have made an appearance on my blog many times, on the person of my husband, good ol' Bert: white design on brown shirt (2010) and yellow design on dark blue (2009), if you were paying close attention... I like the "high blood" one. I should get one for my dad. There's another one that says, "Got Gout?"? The Free Lumpia one is pretty funny but vulgar. Uh, more like Shanghai Lumpia! Ha ha ha! One of his top sellers is "SUSU University" (in the style of SDSU's lettering); "susu" means "tits"! If you click on my 2008 link at the end of this post, I believe I posted photos of that shirt.
Materials set out for the parol making workshop tables. This was my friend's daughter's parol. The frame was already made. They were laboriously cutting the tissue paper and using glue sticks. A faster but more dangerous way is to use those plastic party table coverings and a glue gun.
One of the the first dances - this was from the Mountain Suite featuring dances from the Cordillera Region (in Luzon). The girls have earthenware clay pots on their heads, called "banga". Try balancing that! I didn't include more pix of the dances because I was busy helping to serve the food, which by the way was a merienda that included: pan de sal, pancit bihon, lumpia and turon (banana fritter). I had to wear a fkg apron. I've never worn an apron in my life. Nice sexy look there. Not. And no, I didn't include a photo of that!
Bert and I were there since the early morning. TC was running around with her fellow dancers. We finally left after 5 pm and headed out to dinner at Pho Convoy in Chula Vista.
If you have never been to the Parol Festival, come check it out next year. You can listen to a live rondalla (Philippine stringed instrumental ensemble) and watch dances that represent the diversity of the Philippines from the Mountain Dances, Spanish colonial influenced dances of the Maria Clara Suite, Muslim dances from the southern islands of Mindanao and dances from the Countryside.
Maybe I'll be the one to toss the pan de sal and sling your pancit on your plate!
See past Parol Festival posts here:
Sorry there wasn't one from 2009, although we went. I was too busy in the back room with the other moms serving food.
2008
2007
and
2006
