In the Philippines，May is a time of in tense festivity．All month，school children assemble bouquets1) and floral2) offerings and take them to church．Meanwhile，girls elected to serve as festival queens parade through the streets dressed in the national costume3)，the butter－fly－sleeved dress，surrounded by page boys，flower girls who scatter petals4)，and their relatives and neighbors who sing and chant Hail Marys．

On the last night of May，this festival culminates with torchlight5) parades，open houses，games，and richly elaborate banquets．A feature of these is the Filipino variation on the Mexican pinata：a bamboo frame from which dangle packages of sweets，fruit，and toys on strings6)．Children leap at the packages while adults control the strings by means of a pulley system．In Manila，this is one of the biggest nights of the year，and many people attend formal balls．
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