A spectacle of lights – the Lantern Parade, is one of the most sought after events in the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman along with the Pailaw, Oblation Run, and the UP Fair. It has definitely become a UP tradition running for almost 91 years now. It’s one experience any UP student should not miss during his/her entire stay in the university. Now that I’m in my second year, I am proud to say that I haven’t failed to participate in the past two Lantern Parades.

 

However, there had been a great buzz as to whether the lantern parade would push through last year. The dilemma was primarily because one month prior to the lantern parade, super typhoon Yolanda (regarded as the Philippines’ deadliest storm) greatly devastated Tacloban and other parts of Eastern Visayas. There was evidently a conflict between tradition and the call of the present times. It was proposed that instead of spending money for the lantern parade, the funds should simply be donated to the victims of the typhoon. But I’m glad they were able to meet halfway. It has been decided that the Lantern Parade would push through and it would have the theme “Maalab na Serbisyo Publiko ng Mapagkalingang Kampus.” The challenge therefore was to create a lantern using items that can be donated afterwards. These items should not be damaged so they can be used in their proper condition. For our college’s lantern (which is the College of Education), school materials such as scissors, ballpens, pencils, crayons, notebooks, colored paper, envelopes, yarn, and more were used. Other colleges made use of umbrellas, canned goods, slippers, clothes, and other donatable goods. I am delighted that I was able to experience being a spectator during the 2012 Lantern Parade but this time, I feel even more pleased that I joined the parade of our college and helped in making our lantern. I also think that last year’s lantern parade was better than 2012’s because the works of art were for a greater cause.