This Months Topic - Festivals of the Philippines

[The Dane]

The topic is pretty open, you could write about your own experiences at festivals, history of festivals or what ever else you think would make a winning contribution.

This is our first contest, so we will let submissions run until May 31 - 2007 on this one.

The next essay contest will then be announced on June 10.

Please use the contest discussion room to ask questions and discuss the contest.

[vette77]

This is not really a esay , just a way of letting other know what they are missing
Upon the arrival to Dmgte in November , my wife and I stayed at the La Resedenca hotel.Our room was facing the blvd with a spectucular view.
We were standing on the balcony and began to see people gathering along the street, much to our supprise there was a parrade about to begin.As we sttod thee I was so impressed with all the color and pagentry of the parade as the would stop in fron of our hotel for the judges,We could not have had a better location to view.As I am from the USA I han never experienced such beauty as i saw, I began to video ever meter of the parade.The excitement was over whelming in the air as people ran along the parade route and the various groups performed ther dances and with all the pagentry and color.I beleive i was most impressed with the difrent dances that were performed with such precesion. I could only imigaine the hours of practice that had gone into it,
All the floats and drums were pulled by hand and now where did i see any one falulter.We were so blessed to have had the opprutinity to witness such a parade in the beautiful city of Dumaguete, where I hope to return to very soon.
I must say this was the most impresive parade I have ever seen.
In the USA every thing is so mechanical driven and commercialized in the parades , The USA just does not know what they are missing , The Philippine could teach the americans so much

[cheskaraul]

Thank you for sharing this vette There are some things we Filipinos take for granted, our parades are one of them. We grew up with them so to us, it's just another thing to watch as it passes by

[bigkev]

the first day i arrived in bais city, a little way up the highway from dumaguete, i was treated to a parade for a private school's founder's day. a college marching band lead the procession, with the kindergarten aged children following close behind in various costumes. it blocked the main highway running north to san carlos, but no one seemed to mind. a small but simple parade really made my day as i saw the bright smiles on all the beautiful children. a policeman who lead the parade in a truck with lights flashing and sirens blarring, asked me if i wanted to ride in the back to take better pictures. of course i climbed in quickly as not to slow down this important event. as a photographer, one of my favorite subjects to photograph in the philippines are the little children. they are so beautiful and some are so poor, but one thing i noticed is that they all seem to be happy, no matter their social standing. the intimacy of such a parade made me fall in love with the philippines, and i went there 3 times during 2006. the faces i photograph keep my memories alive and the colors there are so bright and lovely that i am always viewing my photo archives to re-live those memories. i will be returning to the philippines in may of 2007 and hope to find another parade or festival to enjoy and partake in, as i feel so at home there on the islands.

[vette77]

Bigkev
There is just something about the Philippines that has that kind of effect on people, The are so gracious, when i tell people hare what is is like there they just cant understand, guess they will have to experience it for themself to see

[Kev]

My wife and I were so happy as we were back home from our trip to Manila. I was living in Mindanao with my wife and extended family for seven months in a small house with a large extended room that we added on a few months before. We needed to go to the US Embassy for the final interview and we were so happy because she received her visa to come to the US.

I think we made the trip up there, from Davao to Manila, a half dozen times, maybe more. Our daughter, who was born in the Philippines, was also at the Embassy the month before to receive her citizenship. We were now in a very good mood as we had tickets to fly back to the US in a few weeks. My brother- in -law said that the next day was town pride day and after the parade, there would be a large pig roast. I said, ”Wow, I can use my new digital camera to take video and show everyone back home”.

The next day, we watched the parade. Many people marched, from school teachers and companies to different marching bands and the fire department. After the parade, my brother-in-law and I jumped on my motorcycle and we rode to the grand festival on the other side of town. I was on the back and I recorded on video us beeping and waving to people as we drove through town.

The main street was closed off and there was loud music everywhere. There was smoke and the smell of different foods was in the air. As I took a few steps from the motorcycle, I couldn’t believe what I saw. One after the other, roasted pigs, (baboy), were being cooked over barbecue fires. In the first group, there were about a dozen being cooked. I grabbed my video and started to record.

As we walked along, I saw many more roasted pigs. I later learned that each group of pigs represented different barangay’s from around the area. We all walked down the middle of the street and on each side was roasted pig after roasted pig, maybe 200 in all. Each pig was being roasted by a person sitting and constantly turning a bamboo stick. On the way back to our home, I took more video of the festival and town.

The next day I learned that our barangay had won the pig roast taste contest. It was a memorable day I will never forget.

Kev

[garbonzo]

I like festivals. They are very colourful and fun. Always entertaining and we like the native costumes and dances. Great to see these cultural traditions embraced by local communities. The end.

[jimeve]

Originally Posted by garbonzo

I like festivals. They are very colourful and fun. Always entertaining and we like the native costumes and dances. Great to see these cultural traditions embraced by local communities. The end.

Okay who won then?

[babel-fish]

Last years Bayawan festival - Pretty good occasion



One of the main attractions of the Philippines are the many Fiestas the constant flow of religious parades and events. On the 18th February each year the City of Bayawan in Negros have a splendid event and for the second occasion my partner and I traveled early in the morning by aircon coach, to attend this event with her family.

Negros has not been favored by good weather the sky’s have been overcast by storm clouds and there has been loads of tropical rain. However as if by a miracle, we had no rain on the 18th and the fiesta was blessed with a sun, that only, sometimes was overshadowed by storm clouds.

The Baywan fiesta parade is always a colorful event, young girls and men in fiesta uniforms dance through the streets to the sound of drums and brass band music. There smiles light up their faces, sweets are thrown out to the crowds.

This is like most other Fiestas a very colorful and noisy event. Prior to this event, families roast succulent pigs and cook the local traditional foods for the traditional feast and celebration. A tent market with cheap gifts and clothes lines many of streets and flick coin and other fun games stalls are included in the fun.

The Filipino’s especially those in the provinces such as Bayawan are noted for their generosity, if you walk pass their feast however grand or meager they invite you to eat. At fiesta time especially it’s hard to turn down their insistence to a custom more older than held in the religious one introduced original by the Spanish. At fiesta the welcomes become louder and bolder through out the day.

The delicious smell of cooking, of roast pig, chicken and fish drifts temptingly through the air though out the day time and evening. The smiles of children and the adults hides the fact that many of these happy faces belong to those that live in poverty.

My partner and I had a marvelous day of which drifted in to a marvelous non planned evening as we found it hard to get a coach home to Dumaguete, we decided to stay over night at a clean but little bit run down pension house (small hotel). It was easy and cheap to buy our over night needs and clean cloths for the next day.

I love Filipino food and the meals we had whilst enjoying our stay where cooked beautifully and tasted wonderful. However my stomach is hardened by eating Filipino food for 7 years and I would not recommend tourist to eat the food I had that day. Hygiene is not the best assets of the Filipino cooks in the provinces.

(I do not want money for this little article - published some months ago on newsvine) Just thought members would like to share the experience)