Illuminating Parol

Parol symbolizes lights. With or without lights, we take parol as symbol of lights and hopes. In our parol making workshops, we usually follow the three-step instructions: 1) Constructing the structure or the body (Star) 2) Covering the structure 3) Decorating or putting ornaments (tails, tassels) .

In today's workshop at YBCA, attended by 56 participants, the biggest so far among our workshops, I added the putting lights in their Parols. Our parol trainers were worried at first that the participants might not be able to finish their parols before the closing time at 5:30 pm, and we started at 2 pm with my introduction on the story of parol lantern festival in SoMa Pilipinas, the Filipino Cultural Heritage District in San Francisco.

Before the workshop time, I did not take my lunch, and instead I worked and tested three different kind of led lights and made proto-types and designed the step-by-step instructions. When I showed the proto-types during the workshop, the participants were excited to have their parol lit.

Parol with colorful lights are great to carry during the Parol Stroll on December 10th, from 5 pm, at Yerba Buena Gardens in SoMa Pilipinas.

Lights on, I see smiles, glee in their eyes, and face lit up, and they (participants) make our (SoMa Pilipinas staff and volunteers) day!

Gearing up for the Parol Festival night, there are two more workshops at YBCA.

Indeed, parol is Filipinos' contribution to the Festival of Lights in San Francisco.

Parol on the roll with Planning

I took a day off from my work in order to lead another parol making workshop with the staff of the San Francisco Planning Department. It was initiated and coordinated by Carla de Mesa (she/her), Senior Community Development Specialist, Community Equity Division of San Francisco Planning.

For my opening remarks and introduction to the genesis of Parol Festival, I highlighted the connection of parol and community development and how SoMa Pilipinas became a Filipino Cultural Heritage District.

The participants are planners and staff of the San Francisco Planning and they could relate to what I was about to share.

I showed the first logo of the parol festival, and I was wearing our original hoodie with this logo: inside a parol is a house being carried by people.

Yes. This is a true story. When the Borja family sold their property, Delta Hotel, on the corner of Mission and Sixth, which was heavily damaged by a fire in 1997, one of their conditions was to rename it Bayanihan House, a four-floor affordable housing, and Bayanihan Community Center on the street and lower level.

For the rehabilitation of the former hotel into an affordable housing and a community center, public hearings were held to generate community and government support.

In one of those hearings, I remember vividly, when the word Bayanihan was used as an issue to oppose the project. The speaker pointed out that name is hard to pronounce, he does not know the meaning, and it is not in the English vocabulary, hence, it was unacceptable to have a building with Bayanihan name.

I was hired as consultant by the Filipino American Development Foundation (FADF) to develop the service plan, needs assessment, and business plan for the Center.

In 2003, Bernadette Sy, the Executive Director of FADF, daughter of the former owner of the Delta Hotel, Dr. Mario Borja, approached me for a plan to a have a "soft opening" in December for the funders, donors and supporters for the Center.

I broached the idea of a parol festival, and the late Msgr Fred Bitanga, pastor of St. Patrick's Church, a member of the Board, and a good friend of the Borja Family, gave the blessings for the parol event and have it connected to the Simbang Gabi/Misa de Gallo tradition of the Church.

Aha. This is making South of Market (SoMa) a plaza. A church, community centers, community rituals, and Bayanihan.

Bayanihan Community Center has become the corner stone of strengthening the community. Parol making and parol festival have become our expression of bayanihan; a community working together for a cause or project.

The words Bayanihan, Kapwa, Parol are now getting accepted, recognizable, and are included in the language of the people even in America.

Save the date: December 10, 2022 Parol Lantern Festival at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.

Parol on the roll in 2022

Believe me or not I spent my weekend in three well-attended parol making workshops.

On Saturday morning I led the annual parol making workshop at St. Monica's Church, which was organized by the San Francisco Archdiocese's Filipino Ministry in conjunction of their Simbang Gabi tradition. It was attended by 50 participants, mostly intergenerational parishioners. It started at around 9:30 am with Filipino breakfast and we ended at around 3 PM.

At the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA), we have young parol trainers who I trained to handle more than 40 participants from 2 pm to 5:30 PM. I was able to join them.

Then today, Sunday, we had another workshop at YBCA with 40 participants.

Parol is on the roll in San Francisco. Thanksgiving Day is around the corner. I know from experience as we close to Christmas, more and more families and groups would want to participate in parol making workshops or make their own parol lanterns.

This is the time of the year when longing and belonging percolate in our minds, and so pronounced that we look for activities, delicacies, gifts to share, colors and symbols.

The parol is the quintessential Filipino symbol of joy, faith, good luck, and hope during the holiday season.

Although one of the original aims of mounting an annual Parol Festival is visibility in the multicultural fabrics of San Francisco, as for me as pop-ed educator, community strategist, and historian, my drive is more than that. I am into navigating our search of “Sarili, Kapwa, Bayan” our Filipinoness (Kapilipinuhan) in this world.

Parol making workshops are my venues to share old and new narratives. What a joy in sharing our stories that are good for our soul.