VIGAN CITY LONGGANISA FESTIVAL

The Vigan longaganisa is a small and plump native sausage, good for about two or three bites.

It is garlicky and has a yellowish color. Although it is eaten anytime, even as a bread filling, it istraditional favored as breakfast fare together with fried eggs and steamed or fried rice. It is best dipped in Ilocos vinegar with plenty of chili, garlic and onions.

Filipinos cook them in a pan with water. The longganisa cooks in its own fat after the water evaporates and is then cooked further until it slightly caramelizes. A tip to avoid crumbling is to place it in the freezer for a while before frying it.

Vigan longganisa is said to be an influence of the Mexican salami. The tradition of making this native has existed since the period of the Spanish galleon trade. It is distinct from other Philippine sausages because of its use of the local sugar cane vinegar and Vigan-grown garlic, which are major products of the city as well.

The Biguenos are so fiercely proud of their longganisa that they have made it as the product they would like to be most known for. They had it recognized as the city’s One Town, One Project (OTOP) selection under this national government program. They’ve endeavored throughout the years to be the top longganisa producer in the Philippines.

For nearly a decade, Vigan has also hosted longganisa festivals every January which are attended by thousands of local and foreign visitors. They celebrate the festival with street dancing and other activities that have Vigan longganisa theme. They also choose the festival for launching of projects that help market the native Vigan sausage not only in the Philippines, but abroad as well.

DAGUPAN CITY BANGUS FESTIVAL

Bangus Festival is an annual festivity in Dagupan City, Pangasinan that kicks off every month of April. It celebrates the province's Bonuan bangus, which is renowned for its unique taste.

Bangus Festival, first celebrated in 2002, was the brainchild of former mayor Benjamin S. Lim, who wished to emphasize the local bangus industry and promote Dagupan as the Bangus Capital of the World. Initially a part of the thanksgiving festival Pista'y Dayat, Bangus Festival developed into a two-week socio-economic program of activities that highlights the city's top produce.

The festival commences with the lighting of 1,000 barbecue grills lined up to cook thousands of bangus, which stretches up to two kilometers. This also serves as a competition for hundreds of cooks, whose dishes are not only judged by the grilling but through whipping up the tastiest and most creative way of serving bangus. The contest was eventually called “'101 Ways to Cook Bangus” and won for the city a recognition in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest barbecue in 2003.

Aside from the grilling challenge, the festivity showcases a bangus eating contest, a search for the biggest and heaviest bangus, the Gilon-gilon dancing festival, the Pigar-pigar festival, the Halo-halo festival, and the Bangusan street party, where several local and Manila-based bands perform along Jose R. De Venecia Expressway Extension.

BAGUIO CITY PANAGBENGA FESTIVAL

Panagbenga Festival (English: Flower Festival) is a month-long annual flower festival occurring in Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines. The term is of Malayo-Polynesian origin, meaning "season of blooming".[1] The festival, held during the month of February, was created as a tribute to the city's flowers and as a way to rise up from the devastation of the 1990 Luzon earthquake. The festival includes floats that are decorated with flowers not unlike those used in Pasadena's Rose Parade. The festival also includes street dancing, presented by dancers clad in flower-inspired costumes, that is inspired by the Bendian, an Ibaloi dance of celebration that came from the Cordillera region.

Aside from economic boosts from tourism, the festival also helped the younger generation of indigenous people to rediscover their culture's old traditions. The indigenous people was first wary with government-led tourism because of the threat that they will interfere or change their communities' rituals.

LAOAG CITY PAMULINAWEN FESTIVAL

Pamulinawen Festival Fiesta celebration has become an integral part of the religious and cultural heritage of every town in the Philippines. From February 04-10, join Laoag City as they celebrate the Pamulinawen Festival.

Just like any other town in the country, Laoag City celebrates its annual fiesta on the 10th of February, the feast day of Saint William the Hermit, its patron saint. It is an affair which is primarily done to give honor, pay our homage and extend our thanks for the benevolence and generosity of Saint William. Through his intercession to the Lord, Laoag City has been blessed and spared from calamities and disasters. The Laoagueños await for and look forward to every celebration of the city fiesta, making it an extension of the fun and the frolics of the Christmas season.

PAOAY ILOCOS NORTE GULING-GULING FESTIVAL

The annual Guling-Guling Festival in Paoay, Ilocos Norte is traditionally held the day before Ash Wednesday. While Catholics officially mark the fasting and penitence as start of the Lenten Season, it is the day of merry-making and street dancing for Paoay folks. The residents dressed in their Ilocano costume adorned with antique jewelries, dance and sing around the town while being given the sign of the cross where pounded rice is used instead of gray ash. Also, it is the town mayor who imprints the sign of the cross among the Paoay villagers instead of a priest.

This festival of Paoay, Ilocos Norte started in the olden days since the Spanish regime. The friars have introduced this event in the 16th century. It is a celebration held on Tuesdays before Ash Wednesdays to signify that this is the last day for the townsfolk to enjoy all forms of merrymaking before they observe the Lenten season. The Ilocano word “guling” means to mark or smear. Using wet and white rice flour, the town mayor would smear the sign of cross in a person’s forehead. Its white color signifies purity and it is believed that through this procedure a person is cleansed of all of his past sins.

They conduct street pageantry where the locals show off their terna (traditional national costume for women), gowns made of the indigenous abel cloth or the kimona and pandiling. There is a dance parade showcasing the Spanish-inspired Ilocano folk dances and they made a giant dudul, a native delicacy made of rice and molasses.

VISAYAS ATI-ATIHAN FESTIVAL

The Ati-Atihan Festival is a feast held annually in January in honor of the Santo Niño (Infant Jesus), concluding on the third Sunday, in the island and town of Kalibo, Aklan in the Philippines. The name "Ati-Atihan" means "to be like Aetas" or "make believe Ati's." Aetas were the primary settlers in the islands according to history books. They too are the earliest settlers of Panay Island where the province of Aklan is situated.

The festival consists of tribal dance, music, accompanied by indigenous costumes and weapons, and parade along the street. Christians, and non-Christians observe this day with religious processions. It has inspired many other Philippine Festivals including the Sinulog Festival of Cebu and Dinagyang of Iloilo, both adaptations of the Kalibo Ati-Atihan Festival.

A 13th century (c.1200 A.D.) event explains the origins of the festival. A group of 10 Malay chieftains called Datus, fleeing from the island of Borneo settled in the Philippines, and were granted settlement by the Ati people, the tribes of Panay Island. Datu Puti, Makatunaw's chief minister made a trade with the natives and bought the plains for a golden salakot, brass basins and bales of cloth. For the wife of the Ati chieftain, they gave a very long necklace. Feasting and festivities followed soon after.

VISAYAS BINIRAYAN FESTIVAL

The Binirayan Festival, celebrated in the province of Antique every end of April, is a month-long colorful commemoration of the landing of the ten Bornean datus in Malandog, Hamtic, Antique in the mid-thirteenth century. Unlike other Visayan festivals that honor and venerate Señor Sto. Niño, the Binirayan remembers the Malay roots of the Antiqueños.

Binirayan, which means “where they landed”, reenacts the Maragtas Legend that brought the ten datus to Sirwagan Creek in San Joaquin to escape the tyrannical rule of Datu Makatunaw in Borneo. According to the legend, the datus bought the island of Panay from Marikudo, the chief of the Aetas, with a golden salakot. Together with their wives, they populated the entire Visayan region and established a confederation of barangays which they called Madya-as, under the rule of Datu Sumakwel.

In the 1970s, the localities of Antique decided to stage an event when they could get together as people of the island – tracing their noble roots and looking back to the achievements of their ancestors. Thus, the first Binirayan Festival was held from 30 April to 1 May 1974, as advocated by Evelio B. Javier, then governor of the province. Javier died in 1986, but the annual celebration of this event has continued.

VISAYAS SANDUGO FESTIVAL

The Sandugo Festival is an annual historical celebration that takes place every year in Tagbilaran City on the island of Bohol in the Philippines. This festival commemorates the Treaty of Friendship between Datu Sikatuna, a chieftain in Bohol, and Spanish conquistador Miguel López de Legazpi. This 16th-century peace treaty occurred on March 16, 1565 through a blood compact or "sandugo".

The Sandugo Festival is held every July. The Tagbilaran City Charter Day on July 1 kicks-off the month-long festival with a holy mass, diana, motorcade and program sponsored by the City Government of Tagbilaran. Among the major activities during the month is the Miss Bohol Sandugo Beauty Pageant, and the Sandugo Street Dancing Competition which is usually held on the 3rd or 4th Sunday of July, and organized by the Bohol Sandugo Foundation, Inc. (BSFI).

In 2010, the Street Dancing Competition will be held on July 25. The competition is usually participated in by schools, the city and municipal governments, boholano organizations abroad, and even contingents from other provinces. The competition starts at noon at the City Pier, passes through the city's major streets, and culminates at the Pres. Carlos P. Garcia Sports Complex where a Sandugo Re-enactment is held. The final judging of the competition will be held at the Complex where the participants will again perform for the audience. The winners receive thousands of pesos in prizes.

VISAYAS SINULOG FESTIVAL

The Sinulog is an annual festival held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City, Maasin City, Southern Leyte, and Balingasag, Misamis Oriental in Philippines The festival commemorates the Filipino people's pagan origin, and their acceptance of Roman Catholicism.The main feature is a street parade with participants in bright coloured costumes dancing to the rhythm of drums, trumpets and native gongs. Smaller versions of the festival are held in various parts of the province, also to celebrate and honor the Santo Niño. There is also a "Sinulog sa Kabataan" performed by the youths of Cebu a week before the parade. Recently, the festival has been promoted as a tourist attraction, with a contest featuring contingents from various parts of the country. The Sinulog Contest is usually held in the Cebu City Sports Complex.

The Sinulog celebration lasts for nine days, culminating on the final day with the Sinulog Grand Parade. The day before the parade, the Fluvial Procession is held at dawn with a statue of the Santo Niño carried on a pump boat from Mandaue City to Cebu City, decked with hundreds of flowers and candles. The procession ends at the Basilica where a re-enactment of the Christianizing (that is, the acceptance of Roman Catholicism) of Cebu is performed. In the afternoon, a more solemn procession takes place along the major streets of the city, which last for hours due to large crowd participating in the event.

MINDANAO KADAYAWAN FESTIVAL

The Kadayawan Festival is an annual festival in the city of Davao in the Philippines. Its name derives from the friendly greeting "Madayaw", from the Dabawenyo word "dayaw", meaning good, valuable, superior or beautiful. The festival is a celebration of life, a thanksgiving for the gifts of nature, the wealth of culture, the bounties of harvest and serenity of living.

It was said that, long time ago, Davao's ethnic tribes residing at the foot of Mount Apo would converge during a bountiful harvest. This ritual serves as their thanksgiving to the gods particularly to the "Manama" (the Supreme Being).

Various farming implements, fruits, flowers, vegetables, rice and corn grains were displayed on mats as villagers give their respect and thanks for the year's abundance. Singing, dancing and offerings to their divine protectors are the highlights of this ritual.

Although times have changed, this practice of thanksgiving or "pahinungod" is still very much practiced by modern day Davaoeños. This tradition flourished and evolved into an annual festival of thanksgiving.

In the 1970s, Mayor Elias B. Lopez, a Bagobo, initiated tribal festivals featuring the Lumad and the Muslim tribes of Davao City where they showcase their dances and rituals of thanksgiving.

PROJECT

IN

M.A.P.E.H

Submitted By:

VENITTA DOMINI M. HAYES

Submitted To:

SIR. MANNY S. DOMONDON

DATE: OCTOBER 14, 2013