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Considered as one of the biggest harvest festivals in the Philippines, Pahiyas festival is a traditional celebration of thanksgiving for bountiful harvests and commemoration for the patron saint of farmers San Isidro Labrador.

The festival is held in Lucban, Candelaria, Tayabas, Sariaya, Tiaong, and Lucena City. It originally is celebrated as a gift-giving ritual by the natives of Lucban to the Franciscan missionaries who brought Catholicism to the province. It was Fr. Juan de Placencia who continued the practice of offering the harvest to the Spanish friars as celebration and thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. It then became a tradition for the Lucbans.

A procession of the patron saint is held and the houses along it are best dressed which is surrounded with colorful fruits and vegetables. As priests pass through the houses, they bless the products displayed. Farmers often show their best produce of fruits and vegetables like the chayote and rice.

pahiyas, philippines, festival