All photos below did not come from my camera, I got them from the web, just google "UP lantern parade 2012 photos".
Thousands of participants as the different colleges bring in their faculty
members and students, they have modest lanterns or exhibits which are either
pushed or carried by people or mounted on a truck or a pick up. And there are
several more thousands of spectators and visitors. It is a festive and joyful
exercise done every year.
Last
Friday night, December 14, I attended the parade, after more than a decade of
missing it. I brought my family and even my two young girls appreciated
the various lanterns and the festivities. We sat at the Palma Hall steps where
parade participants show off their wares and talents.
The most
impressive lanterns for me were the following.
First, the
UP College of Fine Arts (CFA). This group is a hands down winner each year in
the parade competition. Since last year I think, they have been “disallowed” in
the prize category because no one, not a single college can put up a serious
competition to them. But they are given a special award or citation for their
endless and non-tiring effort at entertaining the public. This year, they have
a long parade of various lanterns, ranging from scary characters like a monster
cockroach and monster “”aliens”, to children characters like tinker bell and
forest fairies, to airplanes and different fishes, large and small. The CFA
guys are really cool. Their annual participation is almost always the
“highlight” of the UP lantern parade.
Second,
the UP College of Human Kinetics (CHK). The participation and exhibition by the
world famous UP Pep Squad was really awesome. Beautiful young men and women
performing high acrobatics like throwing three girls high up in the air, the
girls make 2 or 3 somersaults before landing on their back in the arms of 4
boys catching them. Even my two young girls were speechless at those acrobatic
performance. The college also paraded the various UP sports teams – swimmers,
divers, rowers, others.
Third, the
UP College of Engineering (CE). For one, they have the most number of
participants, hundreds of students from the different departments (Chemical,
Industrial, Civil, Mining, etc.) participated and have their respective
lanterns. One department showed a transformer mounted on a truck: an
innocent-looking jeepney that later transformed into a giant robot standing
high in a ready to fight stance, fascinating.
Fourth,
the UP Babaylan. This is an organization of gays, lesbians, transgenders. Their
costume was fantastic, some in two-piece attire. One participant looked like a
real woman. They are cool and are very open about their chosen gender.
My college, the UP School of Economics (UPSE) also participated, the Dean and some faculty members were there, plus school administration staff and many students. They brought a replica of a bull mounted on a truck, to represent the bullish picture of the economy.
These two guys, they simply danced on a pick up and having a good time, the crowd cheered them as their dance were really funny.
Fireworks at the University Avenue, in front of the Oblation and the UP Administration building. I did not see this, we went home past 7pm. I think the fireworks were set off past 9 or past 10pm.
I did not like the prolonged mini-rally of the activists like the League of Filipino Students (LFS). They held up and delayed the parade of the Fine Arts, Babaylan and other more colorful, more entertaining participants.
Well, the lantern parade attracts not only the most creative but also the most mediocre minds in UP. We see both of them there, and others in between.
