The Most Colorful of Them All: Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Quezon

In the Philippines, May is known as the month of colorful festivals. There’s Flores de Mayo (Flower Festival) and Santacruzan nationwide, Binatbatan Festival of the Arts in Vigan, Carabao Festival in various provinces, and Obando Fertility Rites in Bulacan. But when it comes to bright, colorful festivals, Lucban’s Pahiyas Festival takes the cake.

Pahiyas Festival happens every 15th of May and is celebrated in honor of San Isidro de Labrador, the patron saint of farmers. As thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest, houses are decorated with colorful “kiping” (rice paste molded into leaves) and agricultural products such as vegetables and fruits and rice products. Households try to outdo each other and by nighttime, the winning houses are given cash prizes from different sponsors and institutions.

Witnessing Pahiyas Festival has always been in my travel bucket list. So when I saw a meetup invitation from Daryl (who’s from Quezon), I got so excited and immediately RSVP’d. The itinerary included Pahiyas Festival in Lucban, Hagisan Festival in Tayabas, and a beach getaway in Cagbalete Island, which was another dream destination of mine.

Due to last minute cancellations, only four of us could come – me, Daryl, his friend Gracy, and my book blogger friend, Irish. We left Manila at 3am of May 15 to avoid traffic. First stop was Tayabas City, at the house of Daryl’s sister where we had our breakfast: Lucban longganisa, eggs and rice. Lucban longganisa is GLORIOUS. I loved it so much, I knew I had to buy some for pasalubong.

After breakfast, we decided to go to Lucban for an early start. If you’re going to see Pahiyas, make sure you’re wearing comfy clothes and shoes because you’ll be doing a lot of walking. Vehicles can only go up to a certain point and then you’d have to start walking. Parking could be a challenge, too.

It was drizzling when we started walking. I was told that this always happens during the day of the festival but people take it as a good omen, a sign of blessing from the heavens. For me it just meant that we wouldn’t have to walk under the harsh sunlight so it was all good.

I was right to be excited. Look at how beautiful these houses are!

Street after street, we’re amazed at how much effort and creativity went into turning these houses into such Instagrammable beauties.

We also got to taste the kiping, the main star of this festival. We learned that you don’t actually eat kiping as it is; you have to either fry or grill it and then you can add sugar or salt to season. It’s good. Pretty much like chicharon. Colorful chicharon.

After a couple of hours walking and taking hundreds of photos, selfies, and groufies, we decided to book a room in Tayabas where we’d stay the night. We knew the hotels and inns in Lucban would be fully booked at this point so we didn’t ask anymore. If you plan to see Pahiyas and want to stay in Lucban, make sure you book a place months ahead.

We checked in at Mi Casa en Tayabas, a Spanish-era-inspired hotel owned by the city mayor, Mayor Faustino Silang. Our room was dorm-type with 2 double decks, a TV, AC, a ceiling fan, toilet and bath, and NO TOILETRIES and NO TOWELS. We have our own toiletries and towels but for a room that’s worth 3,000 pesos, I expected basics like those. But we were tired and needed sleep badly so after freshening up, we hit the sack.

After eating super late lunch and having a literally wild time in Tayabas’ Hagisan Festival (watch out for my post about it), we slept again and at past 8pm, we left to go back to Lucban for another round of Pahiyas Festival sighting. And boy, was it awesome-r this time.

The houses (most of which we haven’t seen in the morning since we went to another side of the road) had transformed. It was like Christmas but more colorful and brighter and more crowded. IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL. We also saw some of the winning houses, all of which truly deserved their prizes.

Earlier on Instagram, an old classmate/friend of mine liked a photo I posted and happily told me that he’s also in Lucban because, surprise of all surprises, his family is from Lucban. Their ancestral house is a participant, too. He asked me if I wanted to meet up and I said yes. It almost didn’t happen but I’m glad it did because I haven’t seen Dex in 9 years! What an unexpected reunion it was. We had all the chances to meet in Manila but of all places, sa Quezon pa! We were just planning to say hi but our group ended up staying in their house for a couple of hours while we did some catching up. Thank you, Instagram, for reuniting me with an old friend.

We arrived in our hotel before midnight and the hotel was CLOSED. We knocked on the gates and all that but it wasn’t until Daryl called the caretaker (good thing he has her number!) that it finally opened. The hotel staff thought we were already inside our room so they locked up. They had no guards. It was a true SMH moment but we let it go.

Pahiyas Festival is truly a joy to experience, especially at night. It showcased so much creativity, artistry and resourcefulness from Lucbanons and proved once more that the Philippines is a prime travel destination worthy of a visit. Bonus pa that I got to see Dexter after so many years. It had been a fantastic day 1 with Daryl, Gracy and Irish (you have to read my upcoming Hagisan post to know just how FUN it was). Watch out for more Quezon posts in the coming days!