On the Dot
I beg your pardon, Festival What?
(1st of 2 parts)
Filipinos are moody people populating a country of various moods, historical pasts, traditions and ironies – the Philippines. But as the Desiderata goes, despite ' its shams, drudgery and broken dreams', the Philippines 'is still a beautiful world'. For one thing, it is a country of happy people with an eternal capacity for gaiety and laughter. Why, Filipinos even have the capacity to forever laugh at themselves, something other nationalities find very difficult to do.
In the Philippines, some fiestas have become more known as festival. Sometimes festivals are celebrated side by side with the patronal fiesta, before the foundation day fiesta or after the whatever fiesta of a certain town or city. Just like the fiesta, festivals are staged for various reasons. As a matter of fact, any reason is good enough to celebrate. To venerate a saint. A thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest. To showcase community spirit. Whatever the reason is, Filipinos put their usual tasks aside and join the entire community in the preparation of all intricacies and trimmings that go with the staging of a festival.
In Western Visayas, there are at least 85 recorded festivals and special events that have semblance of festival kuno. Some are originals, while the others are improvements on the originals or simply 'trying hard second rate copycats'. Some festivals are entertaining, others irritating. Some amusing, others ridiculous.
Festivals should be an avenue through which the local hosts can showcase the best of everything that a community has to offer.
A festival may be based on a ritual, a regular series of actions that may be directed to the spirits, the saints, etc. The ritual may be ancestral in nature, Chinese-oriented, etc. It is not art for art’s sake. If the festival is based on local stories, at least 5 versions should be considered and it takes at least three generations to validate each one. On whatever it is based, the bottom line is this: what do we know about ourselves?
When planning for a festival/fiesta, organizers should consider the geography, culture and local history. This way, the event will not be an alien in its own locale. The festival/fiesta should also focus on the most significant and unique characteristics of the people in the area in terms of their food, songs, games, dances, custom, folklore, etc.
(To be continued)