Pahiyas.

The “precious offering” in May when the town of Lucban

uezon Province becomes a blaze of color as each house is
ed with flowers. Originally, a pagan harvest festival, Pahiyas is
given in the honor of San Isidro Labrador, the farmer’s patron

Although the word fiesta is Spanish, Filipinos have made it their

It is not unusual for entire towns to participate in the celebration.
ing can take up to a year, and the decorations, costumes and
s are often both expensive and lavish.

Like Pahiyas, almost every major fiesta in the Philippines has its
in the pre-colonial period. The god Bathala created the land and
ea and his creations have always been part of the actual and
cal way of live in the Philippines. The sea and the land provide
and shelter, but the spirits of nature who dwell in these places are
ways benign and must be appeased. When the Spaniards came
brought with them a new God and new spirits who had to be
ed too. To the adaptable Filipino, a celebration for one god
d please another as well.

Principal fiesta themes are fertility and planting, harvest,

tion and supplication. Sometimes they can be a combination of
al themes such as the danced rites at Obando, which is both a
ication of infertile women to San Pascual and Santa Clara to
them with a child hand a thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest.

The Ati-Atihan held on Kalibo, Aklan is another combined festival.

nally it was celebrated by the Negritos (Ati) to commemorate their
riendship with the Bornean
the Panay Filipinos borrowed the festival to celebrate the Santo
s intervention on their behalf against the marauding pirates of
anao.

While Christmas and Easter are purely Christian festivals, the

prising Filipinos are always quick to make any fiesta reflect their