Pahiyas 2010

My friends from another department in the office invited me to join them in attending the Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon. This is the feastday of San Isidro Labrador celebrated on May 15 in thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest all year round and to simultaneously ask for continuous blessings in the current year. They likewise informed me that I could bring a friend and I invited a grade school classmate at once. I told my mother about it and she said she wished she could join as well. Luckily enough, she could still be accommodated in the transportation.

(A little side story on my mom joining the trip. When I told her that she could join us, she suddenly remembered that she had a prior commitment on that weekend. She was able to get out of it easily. Then she saw the tv ad of a teleserye she religiously followed which was ending on that same weekend. Again, she had second thoughts on joining! In the end, she spent the weekend with me and my friends.)

Going back to the story, we left the office at around 8:00 pm and arrived in Tayabas, Quezon at 11:45. We checked into Nawawalang Paraiso which is surprisingly good for its price.
At breakfast the following morning, our host arrived to take us to Lucban, the center of activities. I was awed by the nice designs made out of fruits, vegetables, and kiping. Kiping is fried crispy ground rice. For me, it is a local cracker.

At around 10:30 am, we went to Kamay ni Hesus, a gigantic statue of Jesus Christ located at the top of a hill 292 steps above street level. It was a good thing that my mom and I wore pants which reached our knees as our friends weren't allowed to climb up since they were wearing shorts. They implement a dress code for the people who want to go up as the place was sacred ground.

When we got down, we went to our host's house to feast on delicious caldereta, laing, and yema cake, among others. Their family lot has the main house, a guest house, technically 2 bahay kubos and scattered with trees such as mangoes, duhat and lukban. The heat was literally draining our energy that time so each of us found our places for siesta.

We woke up to see another tradition, the procession. What was different from this procession though was all who joined are men and we soon found out why. When the men were in front of the houses, the owners threw the displayed suman, mangoes and pineapples. When all of these have been thrown out, the house owners likewise threw bills and coins.

You could just imagine the scene this created! All the men in the parade were eagerly looking up to catch the next thing. Although, what was really striking about it was that a few pickpocketed from the others, all in good humor!

That night, we were invited to another house which also prepared yummy food! We got back to the resort really tired but so glad for the bonding. We went home the day after. Next stop, Subic!