Parol comes from the word Farol, a Spanish word which either refers to a lantern or a lighthouse.
Like most Filipinos, my family probably got its name during the country's Spanish colonial period. It is actually more likely that my family got its name from where my ancestors lived or did for a living. Either we lived near a farol or made lanterns.
To most Filipinos, a parol is a five-pointed star-shaped paper lantern.
Some accounts say that the first parol was crafted by an artisan named Francisco Estanislao in 1928 -- which is oddly enough, a year after my father was born.
Estanislao's creation was made of bamboo strips pasted with papel de japon (Japanese paper), illuminated by a candle or kalburo (carbide). This kind of lighting was adapted by barrio folks to light their paths during an annual ritual dawn Mass called Misa de Gallo, due to electricity being unavailable at the time.
While the more humble parols are made from bamboo and papel de hapon (thin, colored paper), the pricier ones are made of metal frame, capiz shells, and are lit up with an assortment of blinking lights. You'll find many such parols during the Christmas season near Cash and Carry along South Super Highway before you turn left on Buendia (Sen. Gil Puyat) and along Gilmore St. in San Juan going towards the Green Hills Shopping arcade.
Apart from wire-framed, capiz parols there are also various non-traditional materials such as beads, feathers, glass, hemp, leaves, plastic, seeds, shells, soft drink straws, wood and even metal.
Parols come in various sizes — from small, tinsel and foil lanterns to gigantic ones.
In San Fernando, Pampanga there is an annual Parol Parade where gigantic lighted parols are put on display. What is amazing about this Parol or Lantern Parade is that the gigantic Parols are lit up using thousands of lights whose lighting patterns are controlled using a jerry rigged programmed light switch.
Well anyway, the parol is a symbol of the Filipino Christmas just like the Christmas Tree is to Western cultures. Its annual debut on houses and streets is usually in September along with other Christmas symbols, thus signalling the coming of the season. The parol is associated with the Simbang Gabi, a series of dawn masses that lasts for nine days. These then remain until January, traditionally removed after Epiphany, to honour the Three Kings and their visit to the child Jesus.
