In the Philippines, which city hosts the Giant Lantern Festival each December?

The Philippine city that hosts the Giant Lantern Festival each December is San Fernando, Pampanga.

Known locally as Ligligan Parul, the Giant Lantern Festival is an annual competition featuring enormous illuminated Christmas lanterns, or parols. It is held in the City of San Fernando in Central Luzon, which is widely nicknamed the “Christmas Capital of the Philippines” because of its lantern-making heritage and elaborate holiday celebrations.

The festival developed from earlier religious lantern processions connected with the nine-day Christmas novena known as lubenas. Historical accounts trace the event’s roots to Bacolor; after the provincial capital moved to San Fernando in 1904, the lantern tradition followed. Some accounts place the start of the modern festival in 1904, while others cite 1908.

Today, participating barangays compete with large, complex lanterns incorporating synchronized lights and vivid geometric designs. San Fernando is the city answer, while Pampanga is the province. Manila, Cebu, and Davao are major Philippine cities, but they do not host this particular festival.