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Once before, a proposal was made to scuttle the fiesta – a celebration that all barangays (villages), towns and cities in the country conduct every year in honor of their patron saint. The reason was that a fiesta was all about spending for food, drinks and merrymaking and that had the money spent for the fiesta were saved more funds would have been made available for investment in the country. More investments, of course, mean more production and job creation and that what is good about it.
The proposal to scuttle the fiesta, while it appeared good and logical did not push through. I was not surprised because if there is any thing that is hard to change, it is our culture and tradition. So today, the fiesta goes on in all the corners of the country. Some places even have more than one fiesta because in addition to their main patron saint, most towns and barangays also have their “segunda patron” which could actually be more if each and every sitio or part of a barangay also chooses to have their own “patron saint.”
I don’t when and how the fiesta in the country actually started. All that I know is that when I was young, my parents, aside from celebrating our own annual fiesta in our barangay in honor of Señor San Pedro, also brought me along every year to the houses of their close friends in the town proper during the fiesta in honor of Sr. San Guillermo.
My parents and their friends are long dead now but the town fiesta of Dalaguete goes on. This coming February 9 and 10 will be the 298th year that the town celebrates its fiesta in honor of Sr. San Guillermo de Aquitaña. Which goes without saying that it will be the 298th year also that the town existed which the municipal government is also celebrating together with the fiesta. This is because during the Spanish period in the country, the sign that a place obtained a township status is when a church is built and a parish priest was assigned in that place, who in most cases also involved himself in local administration, tax collection and other state matters because in most cases the Parish priest was the only Spanish resident in the town.
What is new in this year’s fiesta celebration in Dalaguete? One is that for now there is no more Fiesta Matron Queen and Mutya sa Dalaguete who will both be crowned on the same night of the “vesperas.” In place of this is the Search for Festival Queen sa Dalaguete for 2009 from among 14 candidates who will be judged on “vesperas” night not for the money that they will bring for the fiesta but for their brains, beauty and other special traits.
Why the Utanon Festival?
Let it be known that this is the second year that Dalaguete is celebrating its town fiesta with the Utanon Festival. The festival was Mayor Andrade Alcantara’s response to the challenge made by Governor Gwendolyn Garcia for each town in the province to have its own festival to showcase its unique culture and other important aspects of local life.
To the people of Dalaguete, the Utanon Festival is a celebration of music and dance featuring Dalaguete’s valued vegetable crops that contribute greatly to the dynamism of the local economy. The festival is also a way of giving thanks to Señor San Guillermo for all the blessing that God bestowed on the people of Dalaguete through his intercession.
Some 12 or more kilometers upland from the national highway of Dalaguete is barangay Mantalongon which together with its neighboring cool highland barangays supplies much of Cebu’s vegetable needs, including that of nearby provinces in the Visayas and Mindanao. For its cool weather and vegetable products, Mantalongon Dalaguete is known as the “summer capital” and “vegetable bowl” of the province of Cebu.
The festival proper has two parts – street Dancing which commences at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday, February 8 and the Showdown that will follow at 300 p.m. The Festival Queen selection and crowning will be held on “vesperas” night, Monday, February 9.
Mayor Alcantara welcomes one and all to the fiesta and the festival.
Viva Señor San Guillermo! Mabuhi ang mga Dalaguitnon!
