MANILA, Philippines — Like a dessert served after a hearty meal, a fireworks display spell the perfect ending of a successful outdoor event. It has become a highlight in itself as it captures the attention and imagination of enamored spectators.

This Yuletide season is no different as two of the biggest universities in the country, the University of Santo Tomas (UST) and the University of the Philippines (UP), showed how a fireworks display should be done.

For UST, the fireworks display of the Paskuhan, its annual Christmas spectacle, never failed to wow the estimated 50,000 people who turn up for the event every year. It is one of its most anticipated events, aside from the performances of various OPM bands (and recently, electronic dance music disc jockeys) which headline the Paskuhan.

Alumni and students fondly remember that during the closing of the school’s Quadricentennial celebration, they had to strain their necks for about 8 to 10 minutes to witness what could be the longest and grandest showcase of pyrotechnics in the 400-year-old history of the world’s oldest university.

Meanwhile, for the 30,000 strong annual attendees of the UP Lantern Parade, the fireworks display caps the showcase of the various inventive floats made by the students and faculty of the university. When UP students and alumni were asked what could be the grandest display of fireworks that could have graced the skies of Diliman, the fireworks display during the university’s centennial celebration in 2008 is usually the given answer.

Another interesting tidbit on the fireworks display during the UP Lantern parade is that it is now being funded by an organization or fraternity, and not by the university administration. For this year, it was sponsored by the Beta Epsilon Fraternity.

Relive the pyrotechnic spectacle of the UST Paskuhan and the UP Lantern Parade for 2014 below: