Preparing for the Lantern Parade just after the Oblation Run, UP, Diliman, Q.C., Philippines
I am a University of the Philippines(UP)alumnus and the annual Lantern Parade in UP Diliman, Quezon City is one event in my college student days that I will always remember. The Oblation Run that preceded the Lantern Parade was not celebrated during my student days. The run was a fairly recent event in the student life in UP Diliman. The run is as popular as the Lantern Parade in Metro Manila and vicinity.
For more photos, videos and detailed discussion of the Oblation Run, visit http://davidbkatague.blogspot.com
Chapter 4, dated 12/16/11
The following video attracted my attention and it reminded me of my student days in Diliman in the early 1950's. The U.P. Lantern Parade is a parade of large lantern-floats around the oval of the main campus of the University of the Philippines (U.P.), the Diliman campus. The first parade was held in 1922 but it was institutionalized as a university celebration in 1934 by then UP President Jorge Bocobo. This annual U.P. tradition and competition takes place on the late afternoon of the last day of classes before the Christmas break, just a few hours after the Oblation Run.
The UP lantern parade attracts crowds of people from all over Metro Manila. Each U.P. unit and college creates a lantern-float on a given theme and presents a brief program to accompany the presentation of the lantern before the judges and audience gathered at the administration hall. An Over-All Best Lantern Grand Prize is awarded, along with "Judges' Choice" and "Most Resourceful." Cash prizes are given to the winners.
Having for many years swept up all the prizes, since 1929 to 1989, the College of Fine Arts (CFA) no longer joins the University competition. Instead, groups of fine arts students try to outdo each other in creating lanterns on the theme assigned by the CFA. The parade of the fine arts follows the main lantern parade and promises to provide the most attractive and creative floats in the parade. In 2004, for example, the college floats and lanterns featured Filipino folklore and mythological creatures like the tikbalang, kapre, and nuno sa punso. In celebration of its centennial, their lanterns in 2007 paid tribute to National Artists for the Arts. THE PARADE IS CONCLUDED WITH FIREWORKS DISPLAY. Reference: WikiPilipinas.com
Please note that I graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from UP in 1955. The next year I passed the Chemistry Board Examination coping 3rd place nationwide. For the last 30 years, prior to my retirement from FDA in 2002, I have been also active with activities of the UP Alumni Association here in US both in Maryland and Northern California.