If you’ve been along West Temple St in the city of Los Angeles lately, you will see that the Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council (HiFiNC) has been busy. From Nov. 24 until after the Feast of Three Kings on Jan. 6, 7-ft Filipino Christmas lanterns, more popularly known as parols, line up Temple St in between Glendale Boulevard and Alvarado streets to mark the celebration of Christmas, Pinoy style.
During the lighting of the parols last Nov. 24, many members of the Filipino-American community were present to witness the historic event. LA City Council Member Eric Garcetti graced the occasion.
With excitement, HiFiNC president Cecile Ramos said, "It’s a dream come true. For the first time in America, you see our Pinoy parols lining up a major street in the major American city of LA. It was a vision that we at HiFiNC have been dreaming about. It took time and effort and a lot of help from many people to make it happen, but at last the proposal was received and approved by the city."
The 21 parols took two years to create and put up. They had to be made up to LA standards so they used LED lights to make the parols energy-efficient. The parols are made of metal with the wind going through them. The Historic Filipinotown Neighborhood Council got a supplier, Decolite, to make the parols.
David Rockello, vice president of HiFiNC and president of Historic Filipinotown Improvement Association, elaborates. "The people at Decolite have not seen a parol before. We showed them pictures and samples of parols. Their welders made 4 ft mock-ups before they proceeded with the mold. The parols they made are supposed to last for five years," Rockello said.
Surprisingly, Rockello, a white American who is an artist by profession, has been making parols for the past five years and teaching classes on parol-making at Historic Filipinotown. Married to a Filipina, Erlinda, David won Best in Show in Historic Filipinotown’s Parol-Making contest four years ago.
"The first parol I made was 6 ft tall on a 20 ft pole. I’m not an expert; I just learned all I could from research at the Fil-Am library. And you know, there’s actually a site on the Internet, myparol.com. Over the past four years, I became like a parol master, teaching classes on how to make parols at Manila Terrace and at a Filipino Christian church."
As mentioned by Rockello, the HiFiNC started a project called the Holiday Parol Parade and Parol-Making Contest four years ago. In 2006, another major project of the Council was the putting up of signs marking Historic Filipinotown along nearby freeways. This year, it was the parols lighting up parts of Temple and Alvarado streets. The next project which HiFiNC aims to finish within the next two years is to set up an arch marking Filipinotown, similar to the one in Chinatown in downtown LA.
Rockello credits Cecille Ramos for the achievements of the HiFiNC. "Her bulldog determination made this happen. The goal is to have parols all along Temple, Alvarado and Beverly Boulevards during the holiday season. You know how Filipinos have the longest Christmas in the world. So, as people of all races see Historic Filipinotown decorated and lighted up for 6 weeks with giant parols, we can make the area a cultural destination. Not only that, if the Filipino practice of putting up parols—which symbolizes the Bright Star pointing to the Christ—during the holidays catches on like wildfire, then the Christmas spirit will be embraced by people of other races, just like they have adopted the use of Chinese lanterns."
Cecille Ramos shared what the parols lighting up streets in LA signifies. "For the first time, we made a statement that we Filipinos can make a difference and can contribute to the betterment of the community. They trusted us. This could be the beginning of getting more support from the LA community," she said.
With Historic Filipinotown decorated with parols this holiday season, the challenge now is for other Fil-Am communities in America to make the same thing happen in their cities such as in Carson, San Francisco, Daly City, Chicago, Las Vegas and New Jersey, where there are large concentrations of Filipino Americans.
As Cecile Ramos and members of the HiFiNC can attest, this is not an impossible dream. "We should keep on dreaming and working to make things happen," challenged Ramos.
( Published on December 13, 2008 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A6 )
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