WIREDGOV

A traditional Filipino lantern festival will bring some Christmas sparkle to Derry/Londonderry this weekend, thanks to a grants windfall from the Big Lottery Fund.

Kabalikat in North West has been awarded £4,500 through the Awards for All programme to run the first Philippine lantern festival in the North West. They are one of 90 groups across Northern Ireland who are sharing in a total grants windfall of £786,503. A full list of grants is available here  

Awards for All offers community, voluntary and statutory groups the chance to apply for small grants of between £500 and £10,000 that will have a big impact on communities and the lives of people most in need.

Kabalikat, which means solidarity, is hosting the Philippine lantern 'parol' festival on Saturday 13th December 2014 from 6pm-12 midnight at Lisneal College in Derry/Londonderry. The free family event will include a lantern parade, traditional dance and food, as well as music and games.

A 'parol', an ornamental star-shaped Christmas lantern, is a traditional symbol of Christmas in the Philippines.

Jonah Atos, chairperson of the group said: “Others have Christmas trees, but for us it’s the parol or lantern. It’s a symbol of hope and goodwill amongst Filipinos in the Christmas season. Once you see the parol in the streets, houses and churches, then you know Christmas is coming.

“The parol festival is a chance for us celebrate our culture and share it with people outside our community who can come along and experience our traditional food, dance and music. We already have other local ethnic minority groups attending but the event is open to everyone to come along on the night to take part.

“Following typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines in November 2013, we realised we needed to formally set up a Filipino group in the north west in order to help out with disasters, but also to support our local community. We started with 66 members, we now have 82 adults and 50 children and are still growing.

“Filipino families are isolated from each other across Limavady, Eglinton, Ballykelly, Derry City and Strabane, and so the children don’t know each other. When we formed the group we found the children were very shy and didn’t know their culture. They didn’t know how to speak the Filipino language because their parents have adapted to Northern Ireland and are just speaking English to help the children adjust and make friends.

“Since the group formed the children having been asking about the Filipino culture. They ask ‘what colour is the Philippine flag?’, ‘what are the traditional dances?’ Before we had to encourage them to get involved and try to interest them but now they are coming to us. They are more active so we’ve started a Filipino language school as a trial run for them.

“The children enjoy the camaraderie of being together and the parents have become more active and volunteered to dance or sing – whatever they can contribute. The group is there to help children know their identity and take pride in it.”

Joanne McDowell, Big Lottery Fund NI Director, said: “The Big Lottery Fund’s NI Awards for All programme funds health, education, environment and community projects that help people bring about positive change in their lives, improve health and well-being, develop skills and create safer communities.                                                      
                                                                                                              
“The application process is simple and accessible and shall remain so, making it easy for applicants to successfully apply for small pots of funding that can have such a big impact on local communities and lives.”

Application forms and guidance notes are available to download at www.biglotteryfund.org.uk. For more details call us on 028 9055 1455, or e-mail us at enquiries.ni@biglotteryfund.org.uk

For media enquiries, contact Rachel Skinner or Lucy Gollogly at the Big Lottery Fund Press Office on 028 90 551 450 or 02890 551 432
Out of hours media contact: 07554116595
Website: http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/northernireland 
Twitter: @BIGNIonline #BigLottery
Facebook: www.facebook.com/BigLotteryFundNI 

Notes to editors

• The Big Lottery Fund is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised by the National Lottery.
• The Fund is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK. Since its inception in 2004 it has awarded close to £6bn.
• In the year ending 31 March 2013, 28% of total National Lottery revenue was awarded to projects. Since the National Lottery began in 1994, £32 billion has been raised and more than 400,000 grants awarded.