Philippine Regional Festival

Lapay Bantigue Dance Festival

It is a local dance art festival that originated from the graceful movements of hovering birds known as seagulls or the LAPAY, found abundant in Barangay Bantigue, Masbate. Flocks of lapay seagulls created a marvelous scenery and inspired the old folks to come up with a local folk dance, that since then has exited and has become an important aspect of the local culture of the people of Brgy. Banitgue and the entire Masbate. It is a day of art, music, and festivity for the beauty of creation.

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“Lemlunay” T’Boli Tribal Festival

Lemlunay or also known as T’Boli Tribal Festival is an annual celebration staged at Lake Sebu, South Cotabato in Philippines. It is celebrated every third week of September that features tribal rituals that start at early down amidst sounds of gongs and native music, culminating at the town plaza where cultural dances and ethic sports like horse fight are held. It was originally just a small town fiesta celebrating the feast day of Sta Cruz. During 1970’s, the religious feast has incorporated the features of the Mo-inum or thanksgiving ritual of the T´bolis. The commemorative mass held during the final day features a unique blend of Catholic ritual and ethnic color. This festival was from the belief of the T’Boli in a golden age that they called Lemlunay which means “the good place one goes to in the afterlife”. The word “Lemlunay” is a sort of Camelot or paradise that they would like to make for their tribe. It is when the people there reenergize and renew their vow to work for this coveted state of life.

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Traslacion (Peñafrancia Festival)

“Traslacion” (same word used with the Señor Padre, Hesus Nazarenos’s Traslacion) is the joyful transfer of the Image of INA, Our lady of Peñafrancia, from the Basilica to Naga Cathedral, carried by hundreds of male devotees. It marks the start of festivity and the 9-day Novena Mass in honor of the Feast of the Our Lady of Peñafrancia, Patroness and Mother of the Bicol Region.

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Higalaay Festival

Annual Fiesta Celebration, a week-long festivity filled with a series of colourful, culturally-rich and fun-filled core events that culminate every last week of August, the feast day of the city’s patron saint, St. Augustine.

It has grown not only as the customary day of thanksgiving but also a rallying point for a campaign to promote Cagayan de Oro City and the surrounding areas globally as an investment and tourism destination.

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Kinabayo Festival

“Kinabayo” is an annual observance of Dapitan City, Zamboanga del Norte’s Fiesta in honor of Saint James “the Greater and the Moor Slayer”. Held every July, “Sinug and Kinabayo” have become a festivity. “Sinug” is purely veneration using San Francisco Leaves raised high, dancing through the rhythm of the gong or beating of drums as the throng of devotees brings the saint’s image to his chapel. On the other hand, “Kinabayo” is a unique dramatization of the triumph of the Catholic faith over Mohammedanism believed to have happened through the intercession of the saint in view of his apparition during the battles of Clavijo and Covadonga and the appearance of the Lady of the Pilar. Modernity has added more color to the festival with the allegorical dance drama presentation of the two events.

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Pagoda sa Wawa Fluvial Festival

In Bocaue, Bulacan, a feast is held in honor of the Holy Cross of Wawa (Banal na Krus ng Wawa) found in the Bocaue River. The “Pagoda sa Wawa” is held each first Sunday of July in Bocaue, Bulacan, out of appreciation for the Holy Cross of Wawa Mahal na Krus sa Wawa. The primary fascination of the festival is the fluvial motorcade of the pagoda or enlivened flatboat and brilliant little boats. Legend states that the progenitors of Bocaue extricated the Holy Cross of Wawa from the waterway 200 years back, and the festival is in recognition of this occasion. An outstanding story recounts a lady who was spared from suffocating by a drifting cross which is attempted to be the Holy Cross of Wawa.

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