* Notes: (1) This is my article today in the online magazine,
http://thelobbyist.biz/index.php/perspectives/less-government/item/137-up-lantern-parade(2) Photos below are not part of the original article. First group of photos I got from interaksyon.com, the second group from gma news.
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There are
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 are 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.
Now the
lousy participants. I say lousy because there were indeed a bore.
First, the
League of Filipino Students (LFS) and other activist groups. They held a
mini-rally in front of ordinary audience and spectators, chanted the usual
“Imperyalismo ibagsak, burukrata kapitalismo ibagsak, pyudalismo ibagsak” and
the usual “Down with the Aquino-US regime” poster. I was a typical UP student
activist too in the 80s, and chanting those slogans appeared somehow “relevant”
in the 80s with Marcos still our President. I was amazed that nearly three
decades have passed, the sloganeering of the student activists have not changed
a bit. I graduated from UPSE with many if not all of us submitting our
undergrad thesis written in a manual typewriter. There were no cell phones, not
even pagers and beepers that time. Now gadgets are so modern, college students
do not even know what a typewriter or a pager looks like.
These
activists also held their mini rally for about 20 minutes or more, thereby
preventing the parade to move on faster. The UP Babaylan and the CFA were among
those held up by the boorish activists.
Second,
the Aurora rallyists opposing the APECO project in the province. I sympathize
with their demands, but holding also a mini-rally for several minutes at the
lantern parade, is plain political opportunism. Holding rallies in many cities
and later in Malacanang, in front of dozens of tv cameras and media people were
not enough, they have to hold another rally in a Christmas festivity in UP.
There were
other activist groups that also joined the parade, with their respective
demands like “secure housing in UP” for non-UP related settlers, wow.
Such is
the UP lantern parade. It attracts the most creative minds in UP like those
from the CFA and CHK in showing off their creativity and talent. But it also
attracts mediocre minds to hostage a festive mood for their political
sloganeering and campaigns.
I hope
that these political opportunists would have some sense of respect for the spectators
and visitors. They can join the parade as no one seems to be banned or
prohibited from participating in the lantern parade, but they can minimize the
mediocre exhibition by minimizing the time they bore the ordinary spectators.
See also:
Christmas Notes 1: Yuletide in Middle Earth, November 26, 2011
Christmas Notes 2: Econ. Songs + Christmas, December 01, 2011
Christmas Notes 3: December and the Filipinos, December 03, 2011
Christmas Notes 4: Thanks to International Policy Network (IPN), December 14, 2011
Christmas Notes 5: Flooding and Parenthood, December 23, 2011
Christmas Notes 6: Thoughts on 3 Christmas, December 25, 2011
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