“ Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent greatness. Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the highest sounding cymbals. Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord. “ - Psalm 150: 1-5, The Bible
To break the monotony, even though I am engaged into freelancing services I want to go back to my first love which is tourism, culture, and the arts. I know you may be expecting a post about freelancing, corporate setting, and the likes. But I want to feature something different. In this post I want to delve into the various expressions of different major festivals in the country with a highlight to my hometown's very own festival, the Tanda Festival celebrated every 15th of May during our town's fiesta celebration. We will also be looking into the other festivals in the country such as; the Sinulog Festival of Cebu City, Pahiyas Festival of Quezon Province, Kaamulan Festival of Bukidnon, Ube Festival of Southern Bohol, and Kadayawan Festival of Davao City. We will also look into how massive commercialism, digital transformation, and tourism development took a festival's essence to different level. We will also look on how we can create our own festival at a personal level as means of personal celebration. Join me as we embark into a journey in the Philippines taking a closer look into their societies through their festivals.
By nature man and his search for the truth wanted to breathe meaning, give life and pay homage and reverence to his deeper truths in life. Man by nature is a celebrating nature.Celebrations are a way of marking milestones in life, commemorating an event may it be jubilant, melancholic, or victorious.
So the question lies on how does a man bridge the gap between the intrinsic to the extrinsic? By nature men give meaning to those intricacies by means of outward expressions and manifestations. In this sense, festivals are means of extrinsic expression of his intrinsic nature may it be anchored in his beliefs, philosophies, orientation, culture, and background. Because man by nature manifests these intricacies in easily recognizable, visible and tangible expressions.
Take for example the Mother of All Philippine Festival, the Sinulog Festival of Cebu. Not only the festival commemorates the victorious event of the arrival of Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan in the shores of Cebu to christianize the natives, it portrays the embrace of a certain society to give way to a new norm and a religious belief, that of their acceptance of Christianity as their new religion. The acceptance of Rajah Humabon, Hara Humamay and some 800 of their subjects of the new faith brought about by the West gives way to what we celebrate now every third Sunday of January. The festival pays religious homage to the Sr. Sto Niño ( the Holy Child Jesus) in a form of pilgrimage to the basilica and a revelry at the streets during the afternoon of that third Sunday.
Festival as our Cultural Heritage
Merriam-Webster dictionary defines culture as the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a racial, religious, or social group. It is being further defined as the characteristic features of everyday existence (such as diversions or a way of life) shared by people in a place or time; the set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization. Our unique culture plays part in the expression of our ways as a society in a given time.
On the other hand, heritage is being defined as something transmitted by or acquired from a predecessor or property that descends to an heir. These set of cultures manifested by a certain society when passed down from generation to generation forms part of their heritage. And when the receiving generation shares the same belief, sentiments, and values to that of their predecessors handing them those cultures. Then that culture became our identity not just as society but as an individual.
In this case, the Kaamulan Festival of Malaybalay, Bukidnon. Amul in their dialect is defined as a gathering. During the early times, a certain chieftain of a village would call the people for a gathering, may it be a celebration of a victory from a war, a birth of a child, a marriage, a harvest season, or death of a tribesman. Their society holds a unique set of cultural beliefs and traditions. That uniqueness is celebrated in a festival which depicts the way of life of the indigenous tribes living in that territory.
Festival as Expression of Religious Belief
There are also festivals which are anchored in the religiosity of man. Though religion forms part of the system of belief of a collective society. Religion and cultures are intertwined. Again we go back to the example of the acceptance of the new Catholic faith of the Cebuanos which is being handed down from generation to generation and which spread throughout the Philippines. Furthermore, the festival also is a manifestation of the great love and devotion of the Filipino Catholics to the Holy Child Jesus.
A festival could be a manifestation of thanksgiving brought about by a bountiful harvest such as the Pahiyas Festival of Lucban, Quezon in the Calabarzon region. Every May 15, the townsfolk of Lucban, Quezon, don their houses with fruits, vegetables and colorful kiping (a leaf-shaped wafer made of rice and dyed with food coloring) in celebration of the Pahiyas Festival. The word ‘pahiyas’ was derived from the word ‘payas’, which means decoration or to decorate. The reason behind such practice dates back to the 15th century, when farmers used to offer their harvests at the foot of Mount Banahaw. Over time, they brought their farm produce at the church in honor of the town’s patron saint – St. Isidore the Laborer, who is the patron saint of farmers, laborers and peasants. During that time, farmers would bring their harvest to the town church and the parish priest would bless them as a way to give thanks to the Lord for their bountiful harvest. But as time progressed, the church can no longer accommodate all harvests. It was then agreed upon for the harvests to be displayed in the farmers’ houses instead. Thus, the parish priest would go around the community to bless their harvests.
Festival and the Environment
A festival is also a celebration of abundance and the gift Mother Nature has to man. We pay homage to our ecosystem for harmonizing with the human kind and being generous to us. Just as what they say when we take care of our environment the environment takes care of us. That symbiosis can be manifested in a festival such as the Panagbenga Festival of Baguio City celebrating the abundance of the lush landscape of the region with its colorful flowers and foliage which exists in abundance. The Kadayawan Festival of Davao City every October which celebrates the harvest season and the goodness of nature. In a certain town in Southern Bohol, the Ube (purple yam) Festival is being celebrated. It depicts the unique way of planting and harvesting the root crop. Thus festival is a way of manifesting our respect and reverence to the environment that we live in.
Festival as a Way of Commercial Tourism
The festivals of yesterday have gone through a lot. In fact it has evolved. No matter where we go, in this day and age of digital transformation, commercialism and tourism influx. Societies have their way of catching up with the economic ride. Tourism found its way to integrate the commercial aspect of a festival as an economic activity, a way for people to engage in business and trading. In fact, other cities and municipalities in the country are finding ways to conceptualize festivals as a way of spurring tourism activity and growth, visitor influx, and economic investments and activity.
Such as in the case of the Sinulog Festival in Cebu City which draws about millions of devotees from around the globe, millions of visitors to the island during that season, and millions of tourist receipts and income brought about by the massive commercialization of the festival.
But despite all of that, it poses a challenge to the present generations. The challenge of taking into heart, of upholding the real essence of why that festival is celebrated and is worthy to be handed down from generation to generation. And it is the duty of the various concerned stakeholders to educate and impart the knowledge about that festival to the younger generations.
Tanda Festival of Tubigon Bohol: An Interplay of the Boholano Religiosity, Artistry, Tradition and Culture
In a certain locality in Northern Bohol, Philippines, in the town of Tubigon, a fiesta celebration is an occasion where townsfolk who long ago migrated to far flung territories make it a point to come home to Tubigon for a brief period of time, say for a day or two or event extending for weeks and months. Tanda, in the local dialect, means a short and brief visit to your origin. So Tubignons, as they call the people of this town, do it during the season when we celebrate our town’s fiesta during the 15th of May. Thus, the festival's title was coined from that very act of establishing this reconnection to your point of origin even just for a brief period of time. It is like a brief homecoming.
Bohol is a home to endless fiestas starting from April 30th even until the first week of June. These fiestas are celebrated amidst the backdrop of merrymaking and gaiety, a pageantry of sights and sounds. Our ancestors in their fervent devotion to the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro Labrador pay homage in front of the carosa where the image is borne. They solemnly dance their petitions while hoisting their white handkerchiefs at the beat of the drums and percussion while dancing in front of the image. Giving thanks for all the favors received through the saint’s intercession may be an abundant harvest, a successful venture of someone such as a business, healing of a sick person, or a safe delivery of a child. All of these prayers are expressed in a dance of thanksgiving and petition. It is a venue of paying homage to the abundance of our agricultural lands and fishing waters which continuously gives us the basic necessities in life. In turn, we thank the good Lord for those bountiful provisions.
Festival as Means of Personal Expression
To sum up a festival is a shared manifestation of our beliefs, backgrounds, sentiments, eventful victories, triumphs, defeats being manifested outwardly. How do we relate this to our own beliefs, backgrounds, and sentiments?
On a deeper and personal level, there would be intricacies in our lives that we want to manifest privately and for our consumption. Everyday as we give thanks to the good Lord for another miracle in our life, for another day to live, for the unexpected blessing that we receive from Him even the failures and plans. Let us not forget to give thanks and honor to Him through homage and prayer. That is our personal celebration, our personal manifestation, our personal festival in his honor and praise. Thus, in this light personal festivals by means of rituals among ourselves or families can be done. When we raise our heads and hands up high above in homage and honor to that supreme force and the higher power, that already is in itself a festival manifestation of his power and greatness. Because life regardless of its intricacies is meant to be celebrated. In the end, may our lives be filled with those moments of festivals for life is a fiesta.