The Feast of San Isidro Labrador
Joekerr
country are celebrating the feast of our patron saint San Isidro
Labrador (Saint Isidore the Laborer, also known as Isidore the
Farmer).
The feast is celebrated in two barangays in Marikina, Nangka and Jesus
dela Peña (JDLP). The festivities started early last week and last
night, when going home to our house in Nangka, the mood was already
very festive as there was a program in almost every street for beauty
or gay pageants and on singing or dancing.
Who would forget too that today is the popular celebration of the
Pahiyas Festival in the province of Lucban Quezon. It’s sad that I
wasn’t able to join my friends who are now in Lucban and eating their
famous pancit luglog. We were invited by a friend whose a Lucban
native to join their fiesta and I regret that I wasn’t able to join
their colorful celebration as Pahiyas is one of the most popular
festivities in the Philippines.
Here’s a little excerpt from the website of Pahiyas festival on what
happens during the celebration:
Farmers show their bountiful produce such as chayote, radish,
pepper and grains of rice. There are miniatures locally known as
“ANOK”, fruits, vegetables and longganisa (local sausage) strung
together in the most original fashion. Residents engaging in other
forms of livelihood display their products too in thanksgiving. The
handicraft manufacturer has his house decked with colorful buri/buntal
hats, bags, placemats and others while the butcher has a head of
roasted suckling pig (lechon) peeking from the window.
The most traditional and certainly the most attractive décor comes
of course in the form of “KIPING” which are adorn and strung together
to form all sorts of shapes, from chandelier called “ARANGYA” to huge
flowers. Kiping is made from ground rice flour, shaped using “cabal”
leaves or other leaf forms and colored in radiant red, fuschia,
yellow, green and other bright shades. When kiping catches the light
of the sun it turns into a veritable cascades of color.
The celebration is a form of thanksgiving for a bountiful harvest
and in honor of the patron saint of farmers, San Isidro de Labrador. A
procession of the image of San Isidro is planned long before the
festival and it is said that houses along the route of the procession
passes will be especially favored and blessed in the coming year. It
is from this belief that the lavish decoration of the home began.
After all, one must welcome the saint’s blessings with rapture and
gratitude.
Last year, I have experienced a similar grand festivity celebrated by
Quezonians called Agawan Festival where town folks of Sariaya also
adorn the walls of their houses with fruits, vegetable or any
ornaments. People who joins the parade may get everything that was on
the houses and mind you, participants at this point will do everything
including climbing walls or pushing and pulling others to get to the
displays.
Although fiestas in different parts of our country are celebrated in
different ways, there is commonality though, these are celebrated with
grandiose food preparation that are shared with guests. I love this
part of the fiesta but I know that the day after, I would again be
searching online for tips on losing weight and diet pill reviews to
help lose some pounds I’d gain after a sumptuous fiesta meal.
To everyone celebrating their town and barangay festivals today, happy
Fiesta po! :)
and @ http://www.ivanhenares.com/2005/05/viva-san-isidro-labrador.html
May 15 is an important day in three towns of Quezon Province, namely
Lucban, Tayabas and Sariaya. It is the feast day of San Isidro
Labrador, and each town commemorates this day with their own unique
celebration. Our plan was to visit Lucban in the morning and Tayabas
in the afternoon. But a twist of fate would make the trip more
exciting and worthwhile.
I left Manila with some photographer friends at 3 a.m. Early you say?
I was told that by 6 a.m., it would be difficult to enter the town
since people really come in droves to witness the Pahiyas, one of the
more famous festivals in the country. If you are familiar with
Discovery Channel's The Travellers, it was the festival they featured
when the Philippines was in focus.
141_4101_1We arrived in Lucban shortly before 6 a.m. and finding
parking was already a big challenge! The streets were so narrow and
you had vehicles parked on both sides. Finally we found a parking
space and from there we took a walk to the Lucban Church where Mass
was about to begin. Although Lucban is known for the San Isidro
fiesta, the church is actually dedicated to San Luis Obispo.
141_4110Pahiyas is a thanksgiving festival for a good harvest, where
residents of Lucban dress up their homes with produce, flowers and
plants, hats, and brightly-colored kiping, rice paste wafers shaped
like leaves. Pahiyas actually means "decor" which is an apt term for
the elaborate, lavish and imaginative house decorations created for
the festival. After the Mass, at 7 a.m., the procession begins and the
images of San Isidro Labrador and his wife, Santa Maria Torribia de la
Cabeza, are brought around the decorated homes, accompanied by a
marching band, to assure farmers of more bountiful harvests in the
coming seasons.
141_4114Lucban is also known for its longganiza and weaving trade.
That's why it is famous for hats. And I bought a lot of them! Hehe! I
like wearing the haciendero hat which Lucban is known for when I'm in
formal or semi-formal attire and I know that I'll be out in the sun
for quite a while.
After three hours of walking around, we decided to move to Tayabas.
Although we planned to be there at 3 p.m. in time for the hagisan ng
suman which I will discuss later. We drove out of the town only to
realize that we took the wrong route, and had to re-enter the town to
go to Tayabas.
Since the traffic was really bad, going back in Lucban was out of the
question. Taking a longer route would have been more practical than
driving in traffic. At least we could see more. The first option was
to go via Mauban. But the sight of a dirt road discouraged us since
the prospect of driving my car on approximately 50 km of dirt road was
unimaginable! So the next option was the route via Laguna which would
literally take us around Mount Banahaw. Since there were a lot of
attractions along the way, there was a lot to look forward to.
141_4138First stop was the town of Majayjay, Laguna. Before we reached
the town, we stopped by a bridge along the way to take photos of the
scenery. We went to Majayjay to visit the Church of San Gregorio
Magno, one of the 26 colonial churches declared by the National Museum
as National Cultural Treasures.
After Majayjay, we proceeded to Nagcarlan which is most known for the
Nagcarlan Underground Cemetery, declared by the National Historical
Institute as a National Landmark. Our first stop in town was its
centuries-old Church of San Bartolome. The church itself is an NHI-
declared historical site.
141_4147141_4157Just a short drive past its charming town presidencia
and waterworks fountain, was the underground cemetery, the only one of
its kind in the Philippines. Maybe the Franciscan friars who created
this structure wanted to replicate the catacombs of Rome! I was
astounded by the brick fence as the design was very Asian, and made me
feel as if I were somewhere else. It actually reminded me of the royal
tombs in Hue, Vietnam. It's a pity we could not take photos inside.
Flash photography contributes to the decay of the site. But even if
your flash is turned off, they won't allow it. I guess it's a general
rule for generally hardheaded Filipinos. Hehe!
From Nagcarlan, we drove past Liliw, a town known for its slippers,
towards San Pablo, where we decided to have lunch. Since it was
already 1 p.m. and scorching hot at that, we decided not to take
photos anymore and move on to Tayabas since we might miss the
procession. From San Pablo, we drove past Tiaong to Sariaya. We had no
intentions of stopping. But the sight of elegant and huge art deco
houses was just irresistable! We were not disappointed.
141_4175The architectural heritage of this town was previously unknown
to me until I saw it. It was nothing but astounding! The houses were a
result of the coconut boom during the First World War when coconut oil
was a sought after commodity in the global market. As a result,
Sariaya became a very prosperous town. And this is evident in the art
deco houses that dot the area around its town plaza. Aside from being
intricate and well-preserved, they are numerous!
141_4178141_4185141_4189Some of the houses were opened to visitors for
the May 15 celebration. There was an entrance fee of P20 per house,
the proceeds of which went to Tuklas Sariaya, the local heritage
conservation organization of the town. The heritage houses, coupled
with the monumental art deco municipal hall, plaza, and church with
its two conventos (the one on the left was definitely built during the
Spanish colonial period), indeed make Sariaya rank among our best-
preserved heritage towns which include Vigan, Ilocos Sur; Taal,
Batangas; Silay, Negros Occidental; Pila, Laguna; and San Miguel de
Mayumu, Bulacan. Bacolor, Pampanga would have been in this list had it
not been covered by lahar in 1995.
The local celebration in Sariaya is called Agawan. And just like
Lucban, the houses are adorned with fruits and vegetables, rice
stalks, hats, fans and brooms, sans the kiping. The festival is a way
for the townsfolk to share their blessings. After the procession of
the image of San Isidro, the agawan begins as the items used to
decorate the house are thrown to the crowd on the street.
142_4201 It was now off to Tayabas after that "refreshing" stop under
the hot summer sun. And we arrived just in the nick of time since the
procession was about to start!
Cheers were heard from the plaza as the image of San Isidro Labrador
was brought out, carried by devotees in this all-male procession. I
would consider it a much smaller yet livelier version of the Quiapo
procession. What makes this procession a unique part of the Mayohan sa
Tayabas, the Tayabasin celebration of the 142_4204feast of San Isidro,
is the hagisan ng suman. As the image passes a house, suman is thrown
by its dwellers. Devotees then rush to catch the falling suman which
drops from the sky like rain. It is believed that the more suman one
catches, the bigger the harvest for the coming season. So expect to be
shoved when the suman starts to fall, as I was shoved while taking
photos! Try to stay away from the suman if you don't want to get
pushed. Hehe!
142_4223After the procession, we took photos of the Basilica Minore of
St. Michael the Archangel, another of the churches declared as
National Cultural Treasures. Other attractions in Tayabas include the
Casa Comunidad, a National Landmark, and its stone bridges.
We called it a day at 4 p.m. and decided to take the Lucban route to
Manila seeing that the Sariaya route was already clogged. Lucban was
10 km away and it was moving fast. But just as we got close to the
town proper, everything just stopped. After 30 minutes, we decided to
turn back and use the Sariaya route instead. When we entered Tayabas,
the procession, which had been moving around town for three hours now,
was about to cross the street. And we had no choice but to go via
Lucena.
142_4229142_4241_dsc6560On the way to Lucena, we saw this quaint old
chapel. And as always, we stopped to take photos. It was then that we
decided to try to find the Malagonlong Bridge, a landmark which
Tayabas is known for, as our final stop for the day. After asking
around, we found out that this charming stone bridge was along the
road to Mauban, Quezon, the road we tried to avoid! Hehe! Being
adventurous, we decided to visit the bridge and go home to Manila via
Mauban, thus circumventing Lucban traffic.
_dsc6563The bridge was a indeed sight! If not for the new bridge
constructed beside it, it would have been nothing but perfect! We went
down to the river to take better shots of it. We were literally on
stepping stones in the middle of the river. Anything for good shots!
Hehe!
As it was getting dark and not knowing what was ahead, we decided to
take the Sariaya route again. Maybe the traffic was much lesser since
the festivities were over. But as we were about to exit Lucena, it was
a standstill again, and three lanes tried to squeeze themselves into
one! Oh you know how Filipino drivers are, illegal counterflows and
shoulder driving just to get ahead! I was just too exhausted so we
decided to have dinner at SM City Lucena.
We left at 9 p.m. hoping there would be no more jam. But traffic was
still slow. At least it was moving this time. To make the long story
short, we got back in Manila close to 12 midnight. I had been driving
for almost 24 hours. But it was worth it. All I could do when I got
home was sleep!
More photos at my YahooPhotos Southern Tagalog album.
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Posted by ivanhenares at 9:38 PM
lots of pictures @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/23995443@N07/sets/72157611582736634/
Labels: Festivals, Southern Tagalog