EDITORS DESK
BERNIE CAHILES-MAGKILAT
I don’t know if this is common among Filipinos.
In my province, Bohol, particularly in my hometown Lila, we normally go home wherever we may be in the country or abroad during our town fiestas. Our vacation leaves are scheduled around these dates.
Boholanos celebrate two fiestas in a year: barrio fiesta and town fiesta.
May is the month for barrio fiestas where pockets of celebrations are held in each barangay for their respective patron saints, mostly the feast of the Sta. Cruz.
The town fiesta is the big one, but since May is the height of summer, lots of Filipinos with Bohol roots come for a visit. May is popular for clan and family reunions, and homecoming for elementary and high school classmates.
Thus, Filipinos from other regions joked that Bohol goes under water during the month of May. It is also true that one won’t go hungry for the entire month of May just by attending each of these barrio fiestas.
Bohol is a land of adventurers. Before my time, Manila was not the most preferred destination for Boholanos in search of greener pasture. But Boholanos peopled most parts of Mindanao where they earn a living for their loved ones back home. Some may have stayed over there for good having been successful in their endeavors in those places, but they always come home during fiestas.
In my hometown alone, I can remember empty houses livening up only during fiestas because the owners and their children returned home for the celebration.
Religious by nature, Boholanos have a “panata” (solemn vow) to celebrate their town fiesta, a thanksgiving for the blessings received the entire year.
As such, every town fiesta is a big event for the local mainstays, baliklungsod and balikbayan. It is the most anticipated and returnees are most welcomed. The question “Who are coming home” reverberates in my head.
But it only occurred to me now that beyond this tradition, which is deeply embedded in the Boholano culture and merely dismissed as a religious event, has long been an annual pump priming to the local economy.
Consider these. Aside from sending kids to school, each household seemed to work the entire year to prepare for this annual “panata.”
The town fiesta in my hometown Lila is a yearlong preparation. Lilanhons save up for their town fiesta. It starts right after the fiesta celebration, Oct. 7, for the feast of Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, where purok or sitio members meet up to agree on the terms of the “tehak,” an annual savings scheme.
“Tehak” members commit to a number of shares and they come for what they call as “butang” (to lay down cash/share) because they literally bring cash to initially pay for their share. Each “butang” is scheduled the entire year.
The amount gathered can be lent to any member or outsiders at an agreed interest rate. Then around fiesta time, they will account for their earnings to fund the fiesta expenses.
Some “tehak” buy a carabao to slaughter for the fiesta. There are lots of carabao traders during town fiesta herding the animals in the town plaza. Our town has only 18 barangays, but there are more than 18 carabaos being slaughtered each fiesta. Some even said that one carabao is being shared by only two households. Each carabao costs around ₱50,000.
In addition, households raise, at least one pig or two for their own, or to share with other households. A piglet costs ₱2,500 and by fiesta time, it could be over 50 kilos already.
The meat is not just for consumption during the two-day festivities. Some are set aside for what we call nowadays “giveaways.” In Bohol, we call it “bring home” or BH.
Visitors normally go home carrying a BH, which the visitor repay when his or her town fiesta comes. So, when your BH is a raw meat, you are also expected to give the same raw meat when it is your host’s turn to attend your town fiesta.
Lilanhons also prepare local delicacies from suman to cakes and cookies. There are lots of drinks and activities during the run up to the actual town fiesta. During my time, it is not fiesta if you are not wearing a new dress.
From what used to be all local festivities, the local government unit has upgraded their nightly programs to include concerts featuring national bands. They also bring in celebrities from Manila to liven up the celebration.
Nowadays, Lila or the entire province has improved a lot economically, fueled by OFW remittances, seafarers, immigrants to the US, Canada, and Europe, and, lately, tourists. What used to be an empty church plaza is now teeming with cars.
Lilanhons are a generous lot, especially for the church. Donations pour in during the town fiesta.
Comparatively, most Manila fiesta celebrations are filled with festivities but Bohol has more. It is a religious thanksgiving, eating, merrymaking, reconnecting, and splurging.
An average household could actually spend around ₱50,000 these days for the two-day fiesta. In fact, I was told that most households in my hometown nowadays have lechon on their tables during the fiesta.
The dynamics on how the new generation prepares for the fiesta must have changed over the years, but big spending for the annual celebration remains the same.
(The author is the assistant Business Editor of Manila Bulletin.)