Parol is an ornamental, star-shaped Christmas lantern from the Philippines, traditionally made out of bamboo and paper.
God hangs stars in the sky. At Christmas time, we hang stars - paper stars, that is, called paroles - on windows and house posts.
My friends and I join the youth group's older teens, already immersed in various stages of the parol-making process. Through years of playful kibitzing in their fund-raising activity, we've gained passable, though rudimentary, skills of the craft. For starters, we know that slim, flattened bamboo reeds make the best lanterns.
If you hold that intersection tightly, I'll tie, Joy says.
Hand me scraps of the shaved raffia, Little Happiness chimes in.
We carefully bind the end points of two forms, but only after we've inserted short spokes to buttress the central area for a three-dimensional look.
Boy Celo helps us paste wet-spattered sheets over the entire configuration. We add curlicued paper and flowy tails, drop a lit bulb within, and declare the masterpiece, Done!
We hang the beacon of light on the front windows, as is customary for the neighborhood - causing Fountain Street to look like a watery expanse of fallen stars at night. Bathed in their luminescence, we wait in quiet expectation, for we know that Love always comes down in the morning.
Love all lovely, Love divine.
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