Pahiyas Festival - May 15
Lucban & San Isidro, Quezon Province

Pahiyas means "decor".

Pahiyas Festival is the time when people in Lucban, Quezon give thanks to San Isidro Labrador for a good harvest. Pahiyas means "decor". Every May 15, the fronts of houses are elaborately decorated with brightly colored rice wafer, called kiping, a type of rice dough made from a traditional recipes.

Fruits, grain, vegetables, and woven palm hats are used as decorations. When the pahiyas festival is over, these kiping are cooked and eaten as rice chips.

San Isidro Labrador

In Pahiyas Festival the San Isidro Labrador's image is carried across town in a procession to assure farmers of more bountiful harvests in forthcoming seasons. Later on to keep the tradition alive the townsfolk agreed to display their harvest in front of their homes where the parish priest would come to bless the harvest.

Lucban, Candelaria, Tayabas,
Sariaya, Tiaong and Lucena City

Considered one the Philippines’ biggest harvest festivals, it is deeply rooted in the traditional celebration of thanksgiving for bountiful harvests. Pahiyas Festivals is the harvest festival and is observed in the towns of Lucban, Candelaria, Tayabas, Sariaya, Tiaong and Lucena City.

Started as a gift-giving ritual

The Pahiyas Festival started as a gift-giving ritual by the natives of Lucban to the Franciscan missionaries who were responsible for bringing Catholicism to Quezon in 1583.

The farmers believed that this rite was necessary because they were convinced that failure to observe it could mean drought, famine, and bad luck for the farmers in Lucban. As the farmers were showered with more blessings and the harvests increased as they observe Pahiyas Festival even more.

Suman of contention

Later into the Pahiyas Festival it becomes a free-for-all, grab-all-you-can affair with suman -sweet, sticky native rice cakes - as the center of contention.

Whether you get handfuls or just a mere mouthful, the Mayohan sa Tayabas will leave you wanting for more - suman, of course!

This and a whole lot more make Pahiyas Festival a heritage of Filipino festivity.

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