AUGUST

Gigantes Festival

The month of August allows for the celebration of the exciting Gigantes Festival, a fun fiesta in the Quezon town of Lucban. This event involves a procession of giants or papier-mâché gigantes (4 meters in height), representing Juan Cruz, a farmer, his wife and two children. The creation of the gigantes from bamboo framework and papier-mâché is made by the townspeople and financially supported by Lucban's richer residents. It is not an easy feat to handle the gigantes on bamboo frames over the shoulders. However, with months of practice, the men inside the figures have mastered the skills that allow them to march, dance, curtsy and even bow before the crowd of audience. The main attraction of fun in the fiesta is an enormous bright red papier-mâché bull called toro, rigged with firecrackers. The bull runs around the town plaza throughout the celebration, giving spectators a fright as fireworks are let off.