Harvey Sapigao tells us the story of this unique Christmas decoration – the Filipino Christmas Parol. Harvey is also helping to organise ICPS 2023 – registration is now open for this amazing student conference: https://www.icps2023.com/
Filipino Christmas Parol (Lantern)
Filipinos will start embellishing their houses with Christmas lights, trees, and ornaments as early as September (the start of the ‘ber’ months, which signals the yuletide season). One unique Christmas decoration is the parol: a colorful lantern that lights up at night. The parol can be as simple as a star or as elaborate as one pictured. As the 25th gets closer, more and more parols appear in the streets and outside houses, making the night especially glowy and festive during the season.