During the San Isidro Pahiyas Festival, each household tries to outdo each other in friendly competition as they vie for honor of recognizing their creativity. The Pahiyas Festival is held every 15th of May in Lucban, Quezon.
Farmers show their bountiful produce such as chayote, radish, pepper and grains of rice. There are miniatures locally known as "anok", fruits, vegetables and longganisa. The handicraft manufacturer has his house decked with colorful buri/buntal hats, bags, placemats and others.
The most traditional and certainly the most attractive décor comes of course in the form of "kiping" which are adorn and strung together to form all sorts of shapes, from chandelier called "arangya" to huge flowers. Kiping is made from ground rice flour, shaped using "cabal" leaves or other leaf forms and colored in radiant red, fuschia, yellow, green and other bright shades. When kiping catches the light of the sun it turns into a veritable cascades of color.
The celebration is a form of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest and in honor of the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro de Labrador. A procession of the image of San Isidro is planned long before the festival and it is said that houses along the route of the procession passes will be especially favored and blessed in the coming year. It is from this belief that the lavish decoration of the home began. After all, one must welcome the saint's blessings with rapture and gratitude.
