Lantern Parade 2013

Tradition with a Cause and Relevance: The 2013 Lantern Parade It was exactly five in the afternoon on my watch as I started preparing to go to one of the most awaited yuletide events in my university. It was seven days before Christmas and the last day of classes for the year for the iskos and iskas before the holiday vacation kicks in. As a college freshman, this was my first time to witness the Lantern Parade and I honestly didn't know what to expect aside from seeing lanterns. It was said that the lanterns for this year's parade must be made from scrap materials and other eco-friendly supplies to reduce the cost of making the lanterns and all the money saved from these will be donated to the Yolanda-hit victims. I felt a tinge of curiosity and excitement. As I arrived at the Magsaysay gate of the University of the Philippines, I immediately noticed something different; there were a lot of people than usual. I walked a small portion of the stretch of the Magsaysay street before turning left after the Romvlo hall. From where I was standing, I saw an even bigger crowd of people. The parade was already starting and it was a quarter past five. It wasn't humid nor hot that day; it wasn't even very cold or at least as cold as December should be. The cold, breezy December weather seemed to be lost already. I continued walking until I was in front of the Economics building. I started seeing familiar faces and said hellos for quite a lot of times. Some people were walking and following the path of the academic oval while some, including me, were just stationary and waited for the other floats to arrive. It was the College of Mass Communication's lantern that I first saw. Sticking to their college color, I saw a pack of people in their orange-colored shirts. Their lantern was pretty cool. A lady imitating the pose of the statue of liberty, which was made from bottles of water, was the central attraction of their lantern. There were also old television sets that were