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In November of 1790 the solemn proclamation of the accession of King Carlos <b>IV</b>, and the oaths of allegiance to him, were celebrated at Manila with fiestas which lasted from the third to the twenty-first of that month (November). 
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Dominican Fray Manuel Barrios, a lecturer in Santo Thomas university described these festivities included, besides the splendid and solemn character of the ceremonies themselves, "a general illumination of the city during three consecutive nights, pontifical mass and <i>Te Deum</i> in the cathedral, levees at the palace, dances in the cabildo buildings, masquerades, banquets, fireworks, comedies, and even a bullfight".  The Filipino natives and the Chinese also contributed to the festivities with devices and entertainments.
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In describing the Chinese spectacle,  Barrios says in an account published in 1791:
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"...  A lion spitting fire, more terrible than those which grow up in the deserts of Sahara, was followed by an enormous serpent, more than fifty cubits long, which made extraordinary movements and contortions on account of swallowing a globe of fire which floated before it through the air; and behind the serpent came another lion, no less fierce than the first. This spectacle was made even more terrible by the confused din of the gongs, which the Chinese beat without ceasing. The lions fought each other, with the greatest ardor and pertinacity; and the serpent performed many pleasing movements and evolutions, causing admiration of the skill with Which so huge a mass moved about so swiftly. Finally, the two lions began to swell, and brought forth an abundance of fireworks; and it would be unjust to the Chinese if I did not state here that this display, although of short duration, was very handsomely designed. One of the lions being now set on fire, it began to run around through the plaza, with an incredible velocity, which spectacle gave much pleasure to those present. On the following day the Chinese presented a comedy in Royal Street, Binondo, which, begun at three in the afternoon, lasted until four the next morning; and even then they say that it was a short one compared with what they are accustomed to. During the following nights they went out through the suburbs, and there was no street through which the huge serpent did not move, to the intense delight of the people who followed it".
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The rector of the University Santo Thomas and the Dominican provincial had a celebration of their own, with fireworks, a dance at the palace performed by the students of the university, and the recitation of a poem before the governor and all the distinguished personages of Manila, eulogizing the loyalty of the city and its people.
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Source:
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<ol class="article-sources">
<li>
The Philippine Islands, 1493-1803,  Volume 1, Number 50, pages 65-67, Jointly edited by Emma Helen Blair, James Alexander Robertson and, Edward Gaylord Bourne, Cleveland, Ohio, The A. H. Clark company, 1903-09.
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December 14, 1788: King Carlos III of Spain died