Big Jim’s Philippines Experience

After many days of different events, the day of the fiesta itself can seem quite a let down.

So, if you are a foreigner and you get invited to a Fiesta, make sure you are in town a few days early so you can make the most of your time.

Many different functions occur in the days or weeks leading up to the fiesta. These will include beauty contests, discos, balls, church services, street parades and other entertainment.

One of the biggest parades in the Philippines is the Sinulog parade held on the third Sunday of January in Cebu City. You can see some highlights of the Sinulog parade in 2004 HERE. Since attending my first Sinulog parade in 2004, I have decided that unless it is what you are really interested in, Cebu City is not the place to be on the third Sunday of January. Everything closes down, all the streets are full of people, no taxis, many streets are blocked off and it is very noisy. BUT, It is a good event to watch on TV (somewhere other than Cebu City) and you see more on TV anyway.

Sinulog Parade, Cebu City (see it on my Sinulog video)

I have been to many coronation nights on the night before a Barangay fiesta in different places. In the cities they have beauty contests which are held under cover but in the boondocks, two things common to all was that they were all held in the open and the winner is the girl who raises the most money.

Coronation of Miss Liberty (See it on my fiesta/village life video)

Many Barangays have a community hall with a basketball court attached or a basketball court with a stage at one end. This is the usual setting for Coronation nights and many other functions in the Barangay. There will also be dancing and other activities on the coronation night. Coronation night is a fund raising night so they will charge an entrance fee, charge for a table, charge for drinks and snacks and also have a dance where money is thrown on the ground. All the girls get a part of the proceeds to buy their coronation night dress but the rest of the money goes to the barangay. The money raised by the girls along with the money raised from the other activities goes to funding community projects.

Every place has it’s own way of celebrating, up to and including the day of the fiesta, but the main focus on the day of fiesta seems to be eating and drinking including as many roast pigs as the family can afford. There is a tradition on the day of the fiesta that you will give food and drink to anyone who comes to your house. People are invited to come to a house on the day of fiesta but much more food than will be required is cooked to make sure there will be food for the uninvited. Fiesta day can be a merry go round of feasting as you travel from one place to the next. If you are invited to go to people’s places on the day of fiesta, please try and go if you can as you will honour the family by attending and may cause loss of face by not attending.

Eating lechon baboy (roast pig) on the day of fiesta

(see it on my fiesta/village life video)

I have a video taken in 2000 at fiesta time consisting of 24 hours in the life of Barangay Liberty, Palompon Leyte. It shows preparations for fiesta on the day before, relaxing at the local pool, some highlights of coronation night and feeding the multitude on the day of the fiesta. To see the video, go HERE

ENJOY YOUR FIESTA