At last, the yearly-anticipated UST Paskuhan is finally back.
The University of Santo Tomas will celebrate the Paskuhan festivities face to face for the first time since the quarantine restrictions started in 2020.
via The Varsitarian
The activities will officially start on November 29, 2022 with the opening of lights at 6 P.M., followed by AGAPE, or the campus-wide banquet where Thomasians gather and eat as one family.
But the highlight of the year, the Paskuhan Concert, is on December 19, 2022.
In its statement, the university mentioned that “”with God’s grace, we will be able to celebrate Christmas as one grateful Thomasian family,”
Where did those two years go?
But how did Thomasians celebrate Paskuhan during those two years that it was on “physical hiatus”?
For context, due to the quarantine restrictions set by the government, the UST administration decided not to push through with the festivities and instead provided students with some alternatives. Here’s a look back at how the UST Paskuhan transpired during the past two years:
Paskuhan 2020: #ReliveTheMemoriesUST
Photo from UST Central Student Council
At the height of the pandemic, the first ever Online Paskuhan was launched. However, there’s no live performances; it’s just a rerun of the classic Paskuhan performances by various artists, such as Lola Amour, Brisom, MilesExperience, Magnus Haven, and The Ransom Collective.
But the highlight of the night was reminiscing the exhilarating performances of Spongecola, Callalily, and Ben&Ben.
At the time, the Virtual Paskuhan was not only for reliving the memories, it was also for a cause.
via Twitter
Paskuhan 2020 also served as a fundraiser for the victims of recent typhoons, through a partnership with a community of UST Legazpi in Albay.
Paskuhan 2021: ‘Live’ online paskuhan
Two years into the pandemic, the cases in the Philippines are still not looking good, however, it gave some opening for the Paskuhan to be performed live, but the catch is: There’s still no live audience.
With the theme: Our Road Through Trials, Our Road To Triumph, Paskuhan 2021 featured performances by Illumina, Lucy, Mimosa and Musikat.
But the highlights of the night would be the performances of Nobita, Orange and Lemons, and Mayonnaise.
Screen Grab from UST Tiger TV Facebook live
“Against all odds, but still not out of the woods, kumbaga marami pa rin tayong kakalabaning variants pero wala tayong pake basta ang importante ay sama sama tayong tumutulong sa mga kapwa natin,” Monty Macalino of Mayonnaise said during their set. (We still have a lot of variants to fight but we don’t care because what matters is that we’re helping one another.)
Just like the 2020 Paskuhan, the University also used the Paskuhan concert to conduct a donation drive for the victims of yet another devastating Typhoon.
“We are glad to say that we have received a total of PHP 233,121.00 for our Paskuhan donation drive!” The UST Central Student Council wrote in their tweet.
As this year's Paskuhan was all about celebrating Triumphs, we would like to share ours. We are glad to say that we have received a total of PHP233,121.00 for our Paskuhan Donation Drive! 🎄📦
Thank you to everyone who made this possible! 🤍
This has been UST Paskuhan 2021! 🎆 pic.twitter.com/m00NDblQlo
— UST Central Student Council (@UST_CSC) December 20, 2021
Paskuhan 2022: Pananabik, Pagbabalik, Panunumbalik.
“Hey, gawan natin ng paraan ha, next year kita-kita tayo ng totoo ha,” Monty Macalino said during their set in Paskuhan 2021. (Hey, let’s work on it, next year let’s all meet in person.)
True enough, all of the Festivities will be conducted face to face with the theme: Pananabik, Pagbabalik, Panunumbalik.
As soon as it was announced, The twitter space exploded with excitement and sentiments from UST students:
me when paskuhan ftf was announced: https://t.co/B0YhdXZoFR
— tiel ♡ (@SealtielSoriano) October 14, 2022
because UST will have f2f Paskuhan this year, bringing back my edit of Johnny Suh as your paskuhan date 🥰🥰🥰 https://t.co/kUTnGqZTgZ
— johnnyˢᵘʰ (@basontheblock) October 14, 2022
LF: Paskuhan Date
With only two (2) months to spare, some thomasians are now ‘cramming’ to find an elusive paskuhan date.
https://twitter.com/aureliojulliana/status/1580911487102513152
lf: thomasian for paskuhan 🫶🏽
— paowee (@paoalejandrino) October 14, 2022
https://twitter.com/mladyCess/status/1581213062412935170
Thomasians Only
However, they might want to limit their search inside the four corners of UST only, because the UST Admin also announced that this year’s paskuhan will only be for Thomasians.
“Perhaps we can re-open the event [to non-Thomasians] in the following years,” Fr. Louie R. Coronel, O.P said.
The last face to face Paskuhan was said to be attended by 100,000 people.
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